Cocoa Rises to One-Week Peak in London on Indonesia Speculation

(Bloomberg) -- Cocoa rose to its highest in a week in London on speculation that lower shipments from Indonesia, the world’s third-biggest grower, may boost prices further.Exports from South and Central Sulawesi provinces, which account for about four-fifths of Indonesia’s total output, fell 28 percent on the month to 8,373 metric tons in April and slid 18 percent to 54,186 tons in this year’s first four months, the Indonesian Cocoa Association said today. Sales were 19,682 tons in April 2008, it said.“There were only a few beans left for export in April,” Herman Agan, head of the association’s Central Sulawesi branch, said by phone from Palu. “We’ve started the main harvests, and exports may pick up in the middle of this month.”

Cocoa for July delivery, the most actively traded contract, climbed 26 pounds, or 1.6 percent, to the day’s peak of 1,702 pounds ($2,565) a ton on the Liffe exchange at noon local time. That was the highest intraday price since May 1. The chocolate ingredient led gains in 2008 on the UBS Bloomberg CMCI Index.Indonesia harvests most of its beans from April to July. The global cocoa market is headed for its third straight deficit this year.Fortis Bank yesterday predicted a “global market being in balance in the 2008-09 season, with a 64,000-ton deficit for 2009-10 -- a relatively modest reduction from the 101,000-ton deficit we estimated in March.”

Sugar, Coffee
Among other agricultural commodities traded on Liffe, white sugar for August delivery climbed $2, or 0.5 percent, to $451.40 a ton. The sweetener rose for a sixth straight day in London yesterday to close at its highest since July 2006. Refined sugar has advanced 34 percent this year.Raw sugar for July delivery rose 1.3 percent to 15.56 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Unrefined sweetener has added 30 percent this year. Prices may gain another 30 percent in 2009’s last quarter and next year’s first three months to as much as 20 cents, the highest since 1981, said Michael McDougall, a senior vice president at Newedge USA LLC.Robusta coffee for July delivery fell $3, or 0.2 percent, to $1,510 a ton.