Arabica coffee hits one month low amid summer slowdown, excess supply

26 Jul, 2019

COFFEE

* September arabica coffee was down 0.8 cent, or 0.8%, at 99.90 cents per lb at 1127 GMT, after hitting a one-month low of 99.85 cents.

* "Oversupply (is) keeping values a bit depressed. (What's) surprising is the lack of buying even at the lower levels. Consumption has slowed down significantly," said Roger Bradshaw of Soft Commodity Consulting.

* A softer Brazilian real versus the US dollar has also weighed this week. A weaker real can encourage producer selling of dollar-priced coffee.

* September robusta coffee was down $9, or 0.7%, at $1,378 a tonne.

SUGAR

* October raw sugar was down 0.06 cent, or 0.5%, at 11.94 cents per lb.

* "The market appears caught between the present and future. Large global stocks continue to weigh despite growing chatter about weather issues," said a dealer. He added prices will likely stay range bound in the short term.

* Concerns about adverse weather in Europe and India, a top sugar producer, are underpinning the market, as is data indicating cane mills in Brazil, another top producer, will further reduce sugar output this year, in favour of ethanol.

* Still, recent large deliveries against July raws and August whites have heightened worries over excess stocks and poor Asian demand even though a market deficit is widely expected next season.

* October white sugar was down $0.5, or 0.2%, at $319.50 a tonne.

COCOA

* September New York cocoa was up $1, or 0.04%, at $2,435 a tonne.

* New York cocoa prices are forecast to end the year marginally above current levels as the market looks set to flip into deficit in the 2019/20 season.

* Market chatter continues to be dominated by uncertainty as to how top producers Ivory Coast and Ghana will implement a "living income differential" of $400 a tonne on all cocoa sales contracts for 2020/21.

* September London cocoa was up 6 pounds, or 0.3%, at 1,849 pounds a tonne.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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