LONDON: Arabica coffee futures on ICE fell on Friday with recent 13-year lows still in sight given excess supplies, while robusta coffee recovered from the previous session’s three-year low.
July arabica coffee fell 0.3 cent, or 0.3 percent, to 93.10 cents per lb at 1532 GMT.
Although prices have steadied since plunging to a 13-1/2 year low last week, dealers said the market has yet to find a floor.
“We’ve been here before, recoveries don’t last long. Confidence from the commercial sector is almost zero, we’re stuck in a doom loop for now,” said one dealer.
A massive harvest in top producer Brazil last year coupled with bearish technical signals continue to weigh on coffee.
July robusta coffee rose $12, or 0.9 percent, to$1,402 per tonne, after pressure from falls in arabica sent it to a low of $1,369 on Thursday.
A recovery in the Brazilian real could support coffee by discouraging producer selling, though the currency remains weak for now, dealers said.
July London cocoa rose 18 pounds, or 1 percent, to 1,753 pounds per tonne, giving back some of the previous session’s gains.
Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, exported 1,122,397 tonnes of raw cocoa beans from Oct. 1 to March 31, up about 3.4 percent year on year.
Indonesia will keep its cocoa export tax for May shipments unchanged at 5 percent.
July New York cocoa rose $30, or 1.3 percent, to $2,316 per tonne, following four consecutive days of declines.
New York July cocoa may retest a resistance at $2,281 per tonne, a break above which could lead to a gain towards the next resistance at $2,317, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
July raw sugar fell 0.03 cent, or 0.2 percent, to 12.31 cents per lb, still within its recent range.
Sugar has received little support from data showing the Brazilian harvest is off to a slow start.
Sugar production in Brazil’s center-south region fell 52 percent to 340,000 tonnes in the first two weeks of the new season, below market expectations.
August white sugar was flat at $340.10 per tonne.—Reuters
