.

• Spec involvement in raw sugar grew significantly for the first time since the impacts of COVID-19 were first felt on markets in early March; specs both bought and sold the market.
• The net long fell as specs sold more heavily than they bought across the week; this was driven by a large move on the day of CFTC data collection and pushed prices towards 11.30c.
• However, we have since seen a price recovery, towards the 12c-11.50c region, suggesting the specs weren’t able to sustain this selling.

• Storms in South Africa caused containers to go overboard last week.
• The same storms limited vessel movement in and out of Cape Town.
• Elsewhere, some Chinese and US ports have seen notable increases in their container volumes so far in July.

The Czapp News Feed gives you access to all the relevant news for sugar, ethanol, grains, and dairy.

It’s free to use in the Interactive Data section.

Here are some stories it has just picked up online that you don’t want to miss…

• As we know, markets are shaped by supply and demand.
• In order to understand the major trade flows and how it all fits together, we need to look at who produces what and where they are, together with who uses what and where they are.
• Let’s firstly tackle the former, by looking closely at the world’s largest wheat producers and exporters.

Daily Market Price Update and Commentary 17th July 2020

• The Vietnamese Government could increase import duty on Chinese HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup). 
• We therefore think Vietnam’s HFCS imports will reduce and the corresponding demand will switch to sugar. 
• This should have a positive impact on Vietnam’s sugar market, as it will help ease their large refined sugar stocks. 

• The No.11 futures have fallen to the 11c/lb range once again, remaining within negative export margins.
• The No.5 futures, with their downtrend earlier in the week, have brought Indian whites exports to negative export parity for the first time in three months. Despite gains yesterday, the No.5 still puts whites exports marginally in the reds. 
• The strengthening USD/INR FX has reduced the attractiveness of exports. 

Daily Market Price Update and Commentary 16th July 2020

• Almost 150kmt of sugar has been diverted from other terminals to T12-A;
• It is the first time the terminal operates sugar since 2016/17 season;
• Pace of nominations have increased this week with 760kmt added to CS lineup.

• Last week’s USDA WASDE release showed how a changing picture impacts the world’s wheat trade.
• Australia’s harvest has had a stroke of luck, with heavy rainfall meaning their crop should be 11m tonnes up year-on-year.
• In contrast, the EU is facing significant crop losses having failed to plant during their very wet autumn and dry spring.

• It has been a quiet few weeks in the molasses market.
• The market is waiting for the new-crop Northern Hemisphere sugar crops to arrive and a cane molasses supply increase.
• In the interim, the main factors that have persisted so far in 2020 have remained constant; namely a tight physical supply, robust prices and concerns about demand.