SOFTS-Raw sugar sets two-month high, cocoa and coffee also climb

Adds quote, updates prices

LONDON, Sept 26 (Reuters) – Raw sugar futures on ICE rose to a two-month high on Monday, buoyed by short-term supply tightness, while cocoa and coffee prices also climbed.

SUGAR

* October raw sugar SBc1 rose 2.1% to 18.67 cents per lb by 1415 GMT after touching a two-month high of 18.75 cents.

* Dealers said the October contract, which expires on Friday, was trading at a premium to March SB-1=R of about 0.85 cents, lifted by a shortage of deliverable supplies.

* The gloomy economic outlook, however, remains a bearish influence on further forward positions.

* The market was also keenly awaiting an announcement from India on the country’s export policy. Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said last week it would come “very soon”.

* “India’s government still has not decided on 22/23 export tonnages but industry is pushing hard for a full 8 million tonnes to be granted expediently,” analysts Green Pool said in a report, adding the government was considering an initial quota of 5 million tonnes.

* December white sugar LSUc1 rose 1.3% to $539.80 a tonne.

COCOA

* December New York cocoa CCc1 rose 1.5% at $2,280 a tonne boosted partly by concerns about crop disease in top grower Ivory Coast.

* Another week of uncharacteristically heavy rain across Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions has increased the soil’s moisture content and triggered a wave of the fungal disease black pod across several plantations, farmers told Reuters on Monday.

* December London cocoa LCCc1 rose 1.9% to 1,892 pounds a tonne with the weakness of sterling also providing support to prices denominated in the UK currency. GBP/

COFFEE

* December arabica coffee KCc1rose 4.7% to $2.3085 per lb, extending its rebound from a one-month low of $2.1085 set a week ago.

* Dealers in the market continued to derive support from low exchange stocks and recent downward revisions to this year’s crop in top producer Brazil.

* ICE certified arabica stocks on Sept. 23 stood at 472,006 bags – the lowest in 23 years.

* November robusta coffee LRCc2rose 0.4% to $2,241 a tonne.

(Reporting by Nigel Hunt, Editing by David Goodman and Ed Osmond)

((nigel.hunt@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 7990 561421; Reuters Messaging: nigel.hunt.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.