Sugar Drops as Thailand Expects Output Surge; Cocoa, Coffee Fall

Sugar fell for a third straight day after Thailand, the world’s biggest exporter after Brazil, said shipments will rise more than forecast to a record. Coffee and cocoa also declined.

Thailand’s Office of the Cane & Sugar Board said today that production will increase 37 percent to 9.47 million metric tons because rainfall has improved yields. Before today, raw-sugar futures plunged 36 percent from a 30-year high in February on concern that rising supplies would ease a global production deficit.

“Seeing a surge from Thailand adds a bearish sentiment to sugar,” said Jimmy Tintle, an analyst at Transworld Futures in Tampa. “It kind of washed out the market.”

Raw sugar for July delivery slid 0.14 cent, or 0.6 percent, to 23.1 cents a pound at 10:40 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. In London, refined-sugar futures for August delivery fell $5.40, or 0.9 percent, to $627.70 a ton on NYSE Liffe.

Cocoa futures for July delivery slipped $7, or 0.2 percent, to $3,086 a ton ICE. In London, cocoa for July delivery dropped 12 pounds, or 0.6 percent, to 1,895 pounds ($3,135) a ton.

Arabica-coffee futures for July delivery slipped 1.9 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $2.944 a pound in New York. Robusta-coffee futures for July delivery rose $39, or 1.6 percent, to $2,541 a ton in London.

(Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-04-27/sugar-drops-as-thailand-expects-output-surge-cocoa-coffee-fall.html)