Soft futures mixed

Soft futures were mixed on Wednesday with sugar, arabica and cotton marking declines, while cocoa traded higher. The sweetener fell after rising by 4.1% for the past three days on speculation rain would slow cane processing in the worlds biggest producer, Brazil. Meanwhile, cocoa gained the most in three weeks.

On the ICE Futures U.S. Exchange, sugar futures for October delivery fell 0.23% on the day, trading at $0.1725 a pound at 13:41 GMT. The sweetener ranged between days high and low at $0.1730 and $0.1717 respectively. Sugar gained throughout last week and the previous three days following reports that demand for ethanol in Brazil rose, which made millers use 6% more cane for production of the biofuel, compared to last year’s 52%. On Tuesday, sugar prices hit $0.1748 a pound, the strongest level since May 13. Unica will provide an update on those figures for the first half of June. Brazil accounts for 20% of global sugar production and 39% of global exports.

Naim Beydoun, a broker at Rolle, Switzerland-based Swiss Sugar Brokers said for Bloomberg: “Since prices went up too far, the numbers from Unica would be played down. The market now is more a factor of funds short covering versus producer pricing as a function of the currency rate.”

Arabica falls

Meanwhile, arabica coffee for September delivery dropped in the late European session after remaining fairly steady and unchanged throughout the day. The C contract traded at $1.2023 a pound, 0.037% lower on the day. Prices ranged between days high and low at $1.2113 and $1.1988 respectively.

In London, robusta September futures fell 0.40% on the day, trading at $1 743 a ton at 13:45 GMT. Prices ranged between days high and low at $1 748 and $1 729 a ton respectively.

Arabica coffee prices fell to a three-year low of $1.1717 a pound on June 20 amid concerns over ample global supplies. Both coffee sorts were under pressure recently as favorable weather conditions boosted prospects for crop development in the world’s top two producers and exporters of the two sorts – Brazil and Vietnam. 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%.

Cotton falls slightly

Meanwhile, cotton December futures marked minor losses, trading at $0.8492 a pound at 13:43 GMT, down 0.04% on the day. Cotton ranged between days high and low at $0.8494 and $0.8434 a pound respectively. The fiber fell to a three-week low of $0.8305 a pound on Tuesday. It has recently been pressured down as concern over slowdown in demand arose from the worlds biggest consumer, China. The Asian country received a yet another downward revision of its GDP forecast by Goldman Sachs.

In its weekly crop progress report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that overall last years crop was of better quality, compared to the current one. As of June 23, 19% of the cotton was categorized as “Very poor” and “Poor”, 34% was “Fair” and 43% was of “Good” and “Excellent” quality. Last year 16% of the crop fell in the “Very poor” and “Poor” categories, 34% in “Fair” and the remaining 50% was categorized as “Good” and “Excellent”.

In London, cocoa for July delivery made a moderate daily rally, trading at $1 440 a ton, up 0.84% on the day. Prices ranged between days high and low at $1 454 and $1 421 a ton respectively.