(Bloomberg) -- Sugar futures fell in New York and London on improving crop prospects in key producing regions of Europe and Thailand, helping offset recent weather concerns in top producer Brazil.
The most-active raw sugar contract lost as much as 2.1%, hitting the lowest intraday price in about five weeks. Prices are down for the fourth straight day.
One of the top Asian producers, Thailand is seeing regular rains aid crops, while the outlooks for production in Europe and in smaller growers in Central America are also positive, said Henrique Akamine, head of sugar and ethanol at Tropical Research Services.
“The bullish drivers have become dimmer,” Akamine said. “Investors are not super convinced of adding long positions in sugar.”
While concern remains over recent drought potentially hurting sugar-cane yields in top shipper Brazil, commodities trader Czarnikow estimated that acreage expansion in the country could partially offset impacts. In a Thursday report, analyst Samia Ohiduzzaman estimated that the upcoming season would end with an 8.8 million metric tons of surplus, the highest since 2018.
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