Soft futures mixed, robusta falls for a fifth day amid amply supply prospects

Soft futures were mixed on Thursday with sugar,cotton and arabica coffee on the green side, while robusta coffee and cocoa marked losses.

On the ICE Futures U.S. exchange, arabica coffee traded 0.80% higher on the day, standing at $1.2298 a pound at 13:41 GMT. Prices varied between daily low and high at $1.2148 and $1.2345 a pound respectively.

Meanwhile, the robusta sort continued to trade at a 17-month low level as favorable weather conditions in Vietnam, the sorts world biggest producer and exporter, has boosted expectations of higher supply.

Sterling Smith, a futures specialist at Citigroup Inc. said for Bloomberg: “Another round of beneficial rain was seen in the central highlands of Vietnam. Hopes of increased Asian demand thus far have been slow to develop.”

This comes after yesterday rainfall eased in Indonesia’s main growing region, Southern Sumatra, which will support harvesting. According to the International Coffee Organisation, the 2012-2013 arabica production in most countries will jump 5.7%, and robusta output will jump by 8.8%.

Elsewhere on the market, sugar futures for July delivery traded at $0.1630 a pound at 13:48 GMT, up 0.49% on the day. Prices ranged between daily high and low at $0.1633 and $0.1688 respectively. Sugar prices fell to a three-year low of $0.1617 a pound on Wednesday, as farmers in Brazil started to accelerate harvesting of the nations sugar crops. Brazil accounts for 20% of global sugar production and 39% of the sweetener’s export.

Cocoa futures for September delivery marked a massive fall on Thursday, tumbling 2.46% to trade at $2 318.50 a metric ton. Prices were between days low and high at $2 310.50 and $2 374 a ton respectively.

Elsewhere on the market, cotton remained fairly unchanged and was up 0.03% for the day. Cotton for July delivery traded at $0.9010 a pound and ranged between $0.8844 and $0.9019 within the day. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture trimmed its cotton crop forecast by 3.6% to 13.5 million bales, compared to its previous estimate of 14 million bales.

Cotton gained 13% this year as global production is expected to slip 4.8% in the season starting August 1, while demand will increase by 2.3%, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee. Dry weather has been hindering cotton crop developing in the biggest U.S. growing state, Texas. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop progress report on Monday that 88% of the nation’s cotton crop was planted as of the week ending June 9, compared to 82% in the preceding week. However, this was lower than last year’s 95% during the same week and the five-year average 92% figure.