Coffee, cocoa futures surge after Thanksgiving holiday

TRADE IN U.S BASED arabica coffee, raw sugar and New York cocoa contracts resumed on Friday after the annual Thanksgiving holiday observed on Thursday. Friday’s trade saw a rise in the prices of arabica coffee, robusta coffee while cocoa and raw sugar futures also enjoyed increases.

March arabica coffee gained 5.9 cents at $1.2305 per Ib. This is however a decline from the $1.2440 price recorded the previous week, its highest since September.

According to dealers, dry weather in southern Brazil remains a key sector of concern with some crop damage now considered inevitable while plentiful rain is needed to limit losses.

March robusta coffee gained $1 to close $1,410 per tonne but the harvest in Vietnam, world number one producer continued to make slow progress and forthcoming torrential rainfalls in coming days could result in further delays.

March raw sugar recovered lost ground to gain 0.29 cents at 15.06 cents per Ib while March white sugar climbed $3.40 to $407.50 per tonne.

The market reportedly derived support from the continuous lack of export subsidies in India despite lobbying from the sugar sector which kept much of the country’s surplus off the international market.

According to dealers, the shortage of Indian exports tightened nearby supplies, creating an expansion of March’s premium to May.

March New York cocoa also rose by $1 at $2,725 per tonne but this hasn’t been satisfactory to investors as overall fundamentals have been bearish after a nine-month high of $2,821 recorded on Tuesday was followed by a major pullback on Wednesday.