Soft futures mixed

Soft futures were mixed on Thursday with sugar, arabica and robusta coffee marking daily gains, while cotton and cocoa traded lower.

On the ICE Futures U.S. exchange, arabica coffee for September delivery traded 1.23% higher on the day, standing at $1.1978 a pound at 12:49 GMT. Prices ranged between days high at $1.1993 and low of $1.1865. Arabica plunged 1.95% yesterday after posting a 2.27% weekly loss last week.

In London, robusta coffee September futures marked a 0.64% daily gain, standing at $1 736 a pound at 12:40 GMT. Prices ranged between days high and low at $1 747 and $1 727 a ton.

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%.

Sugar remains fairly unchanged

Sugar fluctuated on on Thursday, marking a 0.06% daily gain at 12:49 GMT. Sugar October futures stood at $0.1736 a pound, varying between days high and low at $0.1737 and $0.1724 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. The sweetener settled last week 0.27% higher and has gained 3.24% so far since Monday. 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.

Cotton falls

Elsewhere on the market, cotton futures for December delivery plunged 0.29% at 12:51 GMT, trading at $0.8346 a pound. Prices ranged between daily high and low at $0.8409 and $0.8330 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 world’s 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 year’s 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”. Investors are now looking ahead at the U.S. Department of Agricultures will planting and stockpiles reports, scheduled for publishing on June 28.

Meanwhile in London, cocoa futures for July delivery traded 0.55% lower on the day, standing at $1 435 a ton at 12:46 GMT. Prices ranged between days high and low at $1 441 and $1 427 a ton respectively. Cocoa surged 1.09% yesterday and is up 1.06% this week after settling 3.01% lower last week, pressured by the stronger dollar.