ICE Sugar climbs to 1-month peak, up 6.3% for the week

Mumbai, 28 JAN (Commoditiescontrol): ICE raw sugar futures closed higher on Friday, hitting a one-month peak and just shy of a 6-year high hit late in December.

March raw sugar settled up 1.4% or 28 cents to 20.96 cents per lb, having hit a one-month high of 21.03 cents earlier. The contract had a weekly gain of 6.3%. March white sugar rose 1.3% or 7.40 cents to $562.40 a tonne. It gained 2.9% in the week.

The recent run-up in prices has been driven partly by a fund buying, along with a diminishing outlook for sugar output in India's top producing state Maharashtra, which could curb exports from the world's second-largest exporter, dealers said.

Prospect of smaller sugar output in India is seen discouraging the government from allowing additional sugar exports is boosting prices. India's National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories projects that India's 2022/23 sugar production will fall 4.5% on year to 34.3 MMT.

India's Food Secretary Chopra said last Thursday that India would assess domestic demand before deciding whether to allow more sugar exports next month. India is the world's second-largest sugar exporter.

Brazil's center-south sugarcane crushing totalled only 440,000 tonnes in the first half of January, as just a few mills continue with operations in the between-harvests period, industry group Unica said.

Sentiment was upbeat in wider financial markets, with oil up on China demand hopes and global equities rising, while the dollar index was near an eight-month low.

Earlier this month, NY sugar posted a 2-1/2 month low on an improved sugar supply outlook. Unica reported on Jan 11 that Brazil's 2022/23 sugar production through December rose 4.4% on year to 33.462 MMT.

Brazil is the biggest sugar producer in the world. Also, the India Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) reported last Tuesday that India's 2022/23 sugar production from Oct-Jan 15 rose 4% on year to 15.7 MMT. India is the world's second-largest sugar exporter.

Speculators increased their bullish bets on raw sugar futures on ICE U.S. in the week to Jan. 17, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed on Friday.

For Monday, support for the December Cotton contract is at 20.66 cents and 20.37 cents, with resistance at 21.14 cents and 21.33 cents.

(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau: 09820130172)