London - Raw sugar futures touched a fresh six-year low on Friday, weighed by a strengthening dollar and abundant supplies, while arabica coffee and cocoa dipped in light volumes.
Raw sugar futures on ICE edged lower in early trading to 12.22 cents a pound, the lowest since April 2009, pushed down by a recovery of the dollar against a basket of currencies and ample supplies and stocks.
“The dollar is working against the sugar market, and the supply side is particularly heavy,” said Tracey Allen, commodity analyst with Rabobank.
She noted strength in the whites-over-raws sugar premium, trading at around $91.50 per ton between the May whites and raw contracts, underpinned by steady cash white sugar demand.
In its latest monthly report, Rabobank cut its global 2014/15 sugar deficit forecast to 0.7 million tons, from a 1.8 million tons deficit previously, due to benign growing weather.
Producer selling in Brazil has recently weighed on raw sugar prices due to the tumbling real, but the currency has since bounced up from last week's 12-year low.
May raw sugar futures were down 0.07 cent, or 0.6 percent, at 12.27 cents a pound at 12h01 GMT, after touching the 6-year low.
May white sugar futures traded down $1.20, or 0.3 percent, at $362.00 a ton.
ICE arabica coffee futures dipped, weighed by the firmer dollar, in light dealings.
“The arabica market had been oversold when it fell to a 13-month low on March 13, and has since recovered on short covering,” said Carlos Mera, commodity analyst with Rabobank.
Benchmark May arabica futures were down 0.5 cent, or 0.4 percent, at $1.3975 per pound, well above the 13-month low of $1.2875 per pound.
May robusta coffee was down $10 or 0.6 percent to $1,806 a ton.
New York cocoa futures eased, and were underpinned by a stronger pound against the dollar.
New York May cocoa was down $17, or 0.6 percent, at $2,743 a ton, while London May cocoa fell 16 pounds, or 0.8 percent, to 1,924 pounds a ton.
Reuters