White Sugar Advances for Fourth Day on Outlook for More Imports

White sugar rose for a fourth day in London on speculation that importers will expand their stockpiles because of concern that demand will outpace supply.

Trading Corp. of Pakistan plans to complete its initial target of buying 500,000 metric tons of white sugar by this weekend, the agency’s chairman said.

Sugar prices more than doubled last year as too much rain in Brazil and a weak monsoon in India crimped output in the biggest sugar-cane growers.

“We have already concluded deals to buy 300,000 tons and will buy another 200,000 tons this weekend,” S. Anjum Basheer said by telephone from Karachi today. The South Asian nation plans to purchase another 700,000 tons by June to bolster supplies and reduce domestic prices, Basheer said.

White sugar for August delivery advanced $13.70, or 2.8 percent, to $498.60 a ton on the Liffe exchange. Prices have jumped 9.4 percent in four days. May-delivery sugar is $38 more expensive than the August contract, indicating limited supplies.

Raw sugar for July delivery gained 2.9 percent to 17.34 cents a pound at 5:42 p.m. London time on ICE Futures U.S. in New York.

Cocoa for May delivery slid 31 pounds, or 1.4 percent, to 2,121 pounds ($3,257) a ton on Liffe, the lowest since Nov. 24.

European cocoa usage climbed 8.1 percent in the first quarter to 340,863 tons, the most in four years, figures from the European Cocoa Association showed. German cocoa grindings jumped 10 percent in the first three months, the Bonn-based Association of the German Confectionery Industry said.

Robusta coffee for May delivery slipped $7, or 0.5 percent, to $1,346 a ton.

--With assistance from Farhan Sharif in Karachi. Editors: Claudia Carpenter, Dan Weeks.

source: bloomberg