July raw sugar settled up 0.7 cent, or 4.5 percent, at 16.13 cents per lb, its biggest one-day rally on a continuation chart since January 3. It closed April down 4.4 percent, its third straight monthly fall after touching a one-year low on Thursday. May settled up 5.7 percent at 16.04 cent/lb before expiring at the end of the session. It closed at a 0.09 cent discount to July, a sharp move from a 0.26 cent discount on Thursday.
Chinese trading house COFCO Group is expected to deliver 29,404 lots of a total of about 29,900 lots of raw sugar, or 1.5 million tonnes, against the May contract, US traders said after the market closed. Traders said the rally was due to speculative buying. "We've had a big delivery with the May expiration and maybe some people are viewing it as positive," one US trader said.
Traders also eyed industrial unrest in top producer Brazil. August white sugar settled up $13.10, or 2.9 percent, at $459.50 per tonne. July arabica coffee settled up 3.9 cent, or 3 percent, at $1.334 per lb, but closed April down 5.8 percent. Arabica futures bounced up from Thursday's 10-1/2-year low at $1.2865, which was becoming a technical support level. July robusta settled up $36, or 1.9 percent, at $1,946 per tonne. The second month closed April down 9.4 percent, its weakest monthly performance since January 2016.
Dealers said the market was underpinned by a slowdown in producer selling following the recent decline in prices. London cocoa prices were weighed down partly by the strength of sterling, which climbed to a seven-month high against the dollar on Friday. July London cocoa settled down 29 pounds, or 2 percent, at 1,435 pounds per tonne. The second-position contract closed April down 15 percent, its biggest monthly slump since March 2011. July New York cocoa settled down $27, or 1.5 percent, at $1,841 per tonne, and closed April down 12.2 percent, its weakest month since January 2016.