NY Coffee, Cocoa & Sugar Market Close Review for today, March 25, 2011

NY sugar, coffee and cocoa end firm, thinly traded

NEW YORK, March 25, 2011 - Raw sugar futures closed strong on Friday, in thin dealings and on a lift from speculative buying as ethanol mills began to crush in Brazil's center-south region.

Cocoa and coffee also climbed quietly to settle higher.

The opening hours will return to normal March 28, after a temporary one-hour delay over the past two weeks due to the seasonal time change.

RAW SUGAR

* The benchmark May raw sugar contract rose 0.41 cent to close  at 27.86 cents per lb.
 

* On the week, the market is up 0.05 percent.

Robusta coffee May premium climbs as market rises

NEW YORK/LONDON, March 25, 2011 - Coffee prices rose on Friday, with the robusta market focused on the widening premium for May over July, reflecting concern about how much coffee will be available for delivery.

Sugar prices also advanced as the market eyed the impact of rains on crop prospects in top producer Brazil while commercial buying helped cocoa futures close strong. Dealings were light across the board.

"(Robusta) certified stocks will go up fairly substantially if the premium stays," one dealer said.

Vietnam March coffee exports up 22 pct, above forecast

HANOI, March 25, 2011 - Vietnam's March coffee exports rose an estimated 22 percent from the same month last year to 150,000 tonnes, or 2.5 million bags, exceeding market expectations and offering relief over delivery shortages.

Coffee shipments in February were revised up to 144,000 tonnes, or 2.4 million 60-kg bags, up 87 percent from the same month in 2010, the General Statistics Office said on Friday. It previously estimated loading of 90,000 tonnes for February.

The office also revised up sharply coffee exports in January to 215,500 tonnes from a revision last month of 145,000 tonnes. It gave no explanation for the increase.

Asia Coffee-Vietnamese exporters delay shipments

JAKARTA, March 25, 2011 - Some coffee exporters have delayed shipments of Vietnam's robusta beans to avoid losses after fixing prices too low, while concern about a small harvest have kept Indonesian traders on the sidelines, dealers said on Friday.

London's May robusta coffee contract hit a 3-year peak of $2,661 a tonne last week on a possible shortage of available supplies to deliver against the May contract but it has eased to $2,608 a tonne on Friday.
 

"We are hearing serious delay from exporters who have fixed contracts because the prices were set $2,000 a tonne while London's price is already above $2,500 a tonne," said a regional trader in Singapore.
 

"Some international trading houses have not received shipments for their contracts because of this," the trader said.

ANALYSIS-Colombia rains risk new jolt for coffee prices

BOGOTA, March 25, 2011 - Bright sun in main Colombia coffee areas has boosted flowering -- a key process for predicting the main harvest at the end of 2011 -- and helped stress trees to break the dormancy of flower buds in the world's top producer of high quality Arabica beans.

Trouble is, there are dark clouds on the horizon threatening the crop with as much as three times more rain as usual over the next few months. Hail could kill the fruits or knock beans from trees; landslides could wipe out trees.

Tanzania coffee prices fall on low demand, quality

DAR ES SALAAM, March 25, 2011 - Tanzania's coffee prices fell at this week's auction, weighed down by slacking demand on poor quality beans and tracking lower prices in the global market, traders said on Friday.

Supply of top-grade coffee beans is declining as Tanzania's harvest season for the crop edges towards its end.

"Coffee prices declined both on poor quality as we arereally drawing to the end of the season, and the terminal marketalso came off," said a trader at a leading coffee exportingcompany in Tanzania.

Coffee Adds Health Benefit

In January 2010 a study found that coffee drinkers benefited by having less risk of having prostrate and endometrial cancer. A new study adds a new notch to coffee’s belt… Coffee drinkers have a lower risk of stroke.

Susanna Larsson a Swedish researcher with the Stockholm Karolinska Institute studied women coffee drinkers. Her findings were that those who drink more than a cup a day have a quarter of the risk of suffering a stroke as compared to those who drink less than a cup. The report was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association (AHA).

Coffee prices rise, May robusta premium widens

LONDON, March 25, 2011 - Coffee prices rose on Friday with the robusta market focused on the widening premium for May over July, reflecting concern about how much coffee will be available for delivery.

Sugar prices eased as the market eyed crop prospects in top producer Brazil while cocoa futures were mostly flat.

"Coffee is still bubbling away with the May/July. For the time being the jury and personally I am leaving it alone," one London-based coffee dealer said.

May robusta's premium to July rose to more than $170 a tonne, up from around $120-140 on Thursday, although it remain shy of its peak late last week of more than $200.

AFRICAN UNION'S PING SAYS FEARS IVORY COAST IS CLOSE TO CIVIL WAR

PARIS, March 25, 2011 - Ivory Coast is dangerously close to falling into civil war, the chairman of the African Union, Jean Ping, warned on Thursday.

"We tried to get an agreement," said Ping, speaking to reporters in Paris. "We continue to try but the civil war is almost there."

Ping said the tentative agreement had been rejected by incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo but accepted by his challenger, Alassane Ouattara.

Some 462 people have been killed since a disputed November election, which was claimed by Gbagbo despite U.N. certified results showing he lost to Ouattara.********