Crude sugar touches 3-month high on ICE as oil rises

raw sugar production

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – ICE raw sugar closed slightly lower on Monday, but peaked three months ago as oil and wheat prices hit 14-year highs on fears of supply disruptions due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But reached.

Sugar

* Raw sugar for May rose to its highest level since mid-December at 19.89 cents, but fell 0.4% later in the session to close at 19.27 cents a pound.

* The US and Europe are considering imposing sanctions on Russian oil imports, while Russian and Ukrainian wheat trade flows have been hampered by port closures and sanctions.

* Rising energy prices may prompt sugarcane mills in Brazil, the largest producer, to shift production from sugar to ethanol.

* Brokerage Marex Spectron said current oil prices would be equivalent to ethanol parity of about 21 cents in Brazil if fuel prices were adjusted to international prices, which is not happening yet.

* White sugar rose 0.6% to $533.30 a tonne for May.

coffee

* Arabica coffee for May was unchanged at $2.2425 a pound, after falling to a three-and-a-half-month low last week on fears that the Russia-Ukraine conflict would stifle global growth, resulting in lower demand for coffee.

* Traders continue to report uncertainties about trade with Russia, one of the world’s biggest coffee importers, as container lines limit field travel and payments for the coffee business could be hampered by restrictions.

* Strong coffee fell 0.14% to $2,035 a tonne for May.

* Coffee exports from Vietnam, a top producer of robusta, grew 30.8% year-on-year in the first two months of 2022, data showed.

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(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Maytal Angel)