Sugar Climbs on Russia, Pakistan Crop Damage; Coffee Gains; Cocoa Declines
By Claudia Carpenter and Yi Tian – Aug 13, 2010 2:39 PM est

Sugar rose to the highest price in two weeks on speculation that Russia and Pakistan may boost imports as adverse weather cut production. Coffee gained, and cocoa fell.

Russia’s raw sugar imports for the year starting Oct. 1 may be 10 percent to 20 percent higher than last season after drought hurt the nation’s sugar-beet crop, according to Raphael Verley, the raw-sugar desk manager at Sucres et Denrees SA in Paris. Pakistan’s deadliest-ever floods destroyed 200,000 acres of cane, the country’s farmer group said.

“The next month’s weather forecast will be crucial,” Verley said. Increased imports in Russia should be “mainly initiated from the first quarter of next year,” he said.

Raw sugar for October delivery rose 0.45 cent, or 2.4 percent, to settle at 19.42 cents a pound at 2 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. The closing price was the highest since July 30. Sugar jumped 6.5 percent this week, the fourth gain in five weeks.

Refined sugar for October delivery added 30 cents to settle at $549.90 a metric ton on London’s Liffe exchange at 5:30 p.m. local time.

Pakistan purchased 205,000 tons of imported white sugar on Aug. 9, after securing 320,000 tons five days earlier. Flooding, which started July 22, has “not finished, so damage could continue,” said Michael McDougall, a senior vice president at Newedge USA, a broker in New York.

Arabica coffee for December delivery added 0.05 cent to close at $1.776 a pound at 2 p.m. in New York. The commodity climbed 6.1 percent this week. Robusta-coffee futures for November delivery rose $2, or 0.1 percent, to settle at $1,768 a ton at 5:30 p.m. London time.

Cocoa futures for December delivery slipped $19, or 0.7 percent, to close at $2,885 a ton at 11:58 a.m. in New York, bringing this week’s decline to 4.9 percent. In London, cocoa futures for September delivery dropped 18 pounds, or 0.8 percent, to 2,109 pounds ($3,291) a ton.