Sugar Rises to Four-Week High as Rains May Disrupt Brazil Crop

By Claudia Carpenter

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Sugar rose to a four-week high in London on speculation more rain in Brazil’s Center South, the world’s largest producing region for sugar cane, will disrupt harvesting.

The Center South will have wetter-than-normal weather in the next 10 to 15 days, AccuWeather.com said yesterday. The International Sugar Organization last week reduced its crop estimate for Brazil by 3.3 percent after rains in September.

“Fundamentals are still very constructive,” said Nick Hungate, a trader at Rabobank Ltd. in London.

White, or refined, sugar futures for March delivery climbed as much as $11.20, or 1.8 percent, to $622.50 a metric ton, the highest since Oct. 19 and were at $621.30 a ton at 10:17 a.m. on the Liffe exchange. Raw sugar futures for March delivery jumped 2.1 percent to 23.59 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Prices for raw sugar climbed to a 28-year high of 25.43 cents a pound on Sept. 30.

Among other agriculture markets on Liffe, robusta coffee for January delivery climbed 1.1 percent to $1,342 a ton and cocoa for December delivery gained 0.5 percent to 2,023 pounds ($3,407) a ton.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net