ICE raw sugar futures fell for the second straight session on Monday, dropping to the lowest level in seven months on selling by day traders, while arabica coffee nudged higher in rangebound trade. Cocoa futures on ICE Futures US were quietly higher on short-covering in light volume as the Liffe market was closed and many traders were away from their desks due to a bank holiday in the United Kingdom.
ICE sugar, coffee and cocoa markets opened late at 7:30 am EDT (1130 GMT) because of the UK holiday. In raw sugar, benchmark ICE October futures fell 0.28 cent, or 1.8 percent, to settle at 15.36 cents, just below the session low at 15.30 cents, the lowest for the spot contract since January 31. The contract saw follow-through weakness after Friday's close marked its fourth straight weekly fall.
"It's just day traders, such light volume and on a holiday," said Bruno Lima, manager for sugar and ethanol at INTL FCStone in Campinas, Brazil. Total volume exceeded 80,000 lots, down 17 percent from the 250-day average, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed. The second-month US domestic sugar contract rallied 1.3 percent to settle at 26.06 cents a lb, after rising to 26.20 cents a lb in thin trade. Expectations mounted that the US government will decide to levy duties on sugar from Mexico, which would bolster domestic prices.
In coffee, arabica futures inched higher but remained within the range of $1.8285-$1.9520 it has held for the past two weeks as the market awaited new fundamentals. ICE December arabicas rose 0.30 cent, or 0.2 percent, to close at $1.8765 per lb, after rising to $1.8990. Cocoa futures turned higher in thin dealings, remaining just below the highest level in more than three years at $3,269 per tonne, which was reached a week ago.
"You have some early day traders who went short and some saw they were a little vulnerable. It's just a little short-covering," said Nick Gentile, managing partner of commodity trading adviser NickJen Capital in New York. Benchmark ICE December cocoa futures settled up $25, or 0.8 percent, at $3,219 per tonne.
