Sugar Futures Rise as Brazil Production May Trail Estimate on Dry Weather

Sugar rose to a two-month high in New York on speculation the sweetener is attracting demand from commodity funds. Refined sugar surged as much as 4.5 percent in London.

In New York, raw sweetener for October delivery climbed 0.17 cent, or 1 percent, to 17.23 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. at 9:09 a.m. local time. It earlier rose to as high as 17.30 cents, the highest price since April 20. White, or refined, sugar for October delivery was 1.5 percent higher at$519.70 a metric ton on Liffe.

“It may well be fund influence,” said Jake Wetherall, a trader with Rabobank International Ltd. in London.

The August white sugar futures contract is $86.70 a ton more expensive than the October contract, a situation known as backwardation that may signal limited supplies. The difference was up from $59.50 at the end of June.

A surplus in the season starting Oct. 1 is “unlikely to be sufficient to rebuild supply pipelines,” sugar broker Czarnikow Group Ltd. said last month. Two years of shortfalls reduced stockpiles by 27 million tons, it said.

Arabica coffee futures for September delivery dropped 1.1 percent to $1.6125 a pound on ICE.

Robusta for September delivery rose 1 percent to $1,685 a ton. It gained for a second day after dropping 6.6 percent in the three sessions through July 6.

“After the downward movement, some buyers seem to have jumped back into the market,” Angus Kerr, owner of trading company Coffee ag in Cobham, England, said today by phone.

In New York, cocoa for September delivery rose $6, or 0.2 percent, to $2,987 a ton. Cocoa for September delivery gained 6 pounds, or 0.3 percent, to 2,409 pounds ($3,653) a ton on Liffe.

To contact the reporter on this story: M. Shankar in London at mshankar@bloomberg.net

• Tweet
• More
  • Business Exchange
  • Buzz up!
  • Digg
• Print
• Email