(Updates with comments and closing prices)
NEW YORK/LONDON, Dec 15 (Reuters) –
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Raw sugar futures on ICE hit their highest levels in nearly six years on Thursday, before turning negative near the close, as flows dwindle from No. 2 exporter India.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar settled down 0.31 cent, or 1.5%, at 19.98 cents per lb, having earlier hit its highest since February 2017 at 20.73 cents.
* Dealers said mills in India are producing almost no raw sugar at the moment because whites are currently more lucrative, leaving the global market short at a time when top exporter Brazil is in between harvests.
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* They added Indian refiners who sometimes buy raw locally are mostly importing them now from the world market, namely from Brazil.
* India would consider allowing additional sugar exports under the quota system in January after assessing local production, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said.
* Pakistan has lifted a ban on sugar exports, the finance ministry said, aiming to allow up to 100,000 tonnes of shipments in fiscal year 2022/23.
* March white sugar fell $9.80, or 1.8%, to $545.00 a tonne.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee rose 3.6 cents, or 2.1%, to $1.7175 per lb.
* Dealers said coffee futures became oversold and cheap after the recent slide, attracting investor buying. There was also support from slow farmer selling in top grower Brazil.
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*
Brazil’s government revised
upwards its estimate for this year’s crop to 50.9 million bags on Thursday.
* March robusta coffee rose $1, or 0.1%, to $1,878 a tonne.
* Coffee markets in top robusta producer Vietnam were subdued this week, with buyers lacking interest and bulk supplies not reaching traders as beans were still in the drying process.
* Dealers said buying should pick up ahead of the Tet New Year holidays on Jan. 22.
COCOA
* March London cocoa settled up 25 pounds, or 1.3%, at 1,975 pounds per tonne.
* Ghana’s annual consumer inflation accelerated to a 21-year high of 50.3% in November, a day after the world’s no. 2 cocoa producer secured a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a $3 billion, three-year support package.
* March New York cocoa fell $7, or 0.3%, to $2,517 a tonne. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Maytaal Angel; Editing by Jan Harvey, Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shinjini Ganguli)
