Front-Month Raw Sugar Ends at Near 6-Week High; Arabica Gains

  NEW YORK  -  Raw-sugar futures rose to a near six-week high settlement on Monday

as rains in No. 1 grower Brazil slowed the country's sugar-cane harvest.

  Rains delay the crop because heavy harvesting and transporting equipment

can't enter the sugar-cane fields when they are soggy.

  "So far, there is not much damage (to the harvest), but there are more rains

coming in," which could stop work again, said Alex Oliveira, a senior analyst

at brokerage Newedge in New York.

  Front-month raw sugar for October delivery on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange

ended 0.4% higher at 17.25 cents a pound, the highest close since Aug. 14. The

more actively traded contract for delivery in March ended 0.1% higher at 17.76

cents a pound, the highest settlement for that contract since June 27.

  However, action in the market has been quiet, and with a record global

surplus forecast for this season, traders don't expect a big rally anytime

soon.

  "We have more adrenaline now watching Bambi than following this market," said

Arnaldo Luiz Correa, director at Archer Consulting, in a note.

  ICE arabica coffee for delivery in December gained 2.1% to settle at $1.1705

a pound, a one-week high, as that market got a boost from traders closing bets

that prices would fall. Futures ended last week at a more than four-year low on

expectations for massive supplies.

  Brazilian growers are expected to harvest 47.5 million 60-kilogram

(132-pound) bags of coffee this year, a record for an "off-year" harvest,

government crop agency Conab said earlier this month.

  But with arabica prices down 38% from a year ago, some traders are wagering

that the market has hit bottom.

  "We are starting to see a little buying," said Joe Ricupero, vice president

at brokerage RJO Futures in New York. "But people are going to wait for a

breakout before they really put on positions."

  Cocoa for December delivery ticked 0.1% higher to $2,610 a ton as stockpiles

in the ICE-certified warehouse dwindled to the lowest level in nearly seven

months. Orange juice for delivery in November ended up 0.6% at $1.2630 a pound,

while cotton for December delivery eased 0.3% to 84.27 cents a pound in thin

trade.