Commodity Trends: Rubber Recovers Fast, Uptrend in Pepper .

Soybean

Soybean futures gained tracking global trends with CBOT soybean gaining on tight supplies due to strong demand. Markets fear that Brazil’s soy corp may be lower than expected while Informa Economics forecasted that acreage will be lesser by 1 million cutting end of year 2012 supplies by 50-60 m bushels.

CBOT May soy rose 2% to $13.62 1/2; Nov soy gain 2.4% to $13.34 a bushel in the weekend trading.

At NCDEX April Soybean rose from Rs 2349 to Rs 2376 on week while May contract rose from Rs 2385 to Rs 2407. India imported 549,881 tonnes of vegetable oils in February, down by about a fifth from a year ago, trade data released on Monday showed, a fall largely due to higher crushing of domestic oilseeds following a normal monsoon.

India's rapeseed output in 2011 could jump 16.1 percent to 6.85 million tonnes, helped by favourable weather conditions, The north-western state of Rajasthan is the biggest producer of rapeseed in the country. Meanwhile palm oil prices are climbing up globally in futures and spot markets on active physical buying as impact of nuclear-crisis in Japan eased. April Soyoil at NCDEX rose from Rs 611.65 to Rs 620.60 while May contract rose from RS 617.10 to Rs 627.45.

Cotton

India cotton prices continue to be well supported on supply concerns as arrivals season draws to a close. As the season draws to a close, there will be no fresh cotton supply for next seven months and the opening stocks is also very low, all these factors will put a pressure on its prices. Globally, cotton futures had fallen in the beginning of the week by 9.7% before climbing back as concerns regarding the Japan quake impact eased.

Cotton for May delivery surged by the exchange limit of 7 cents, or 3.6 percent, to settle at $1.9912 a pound at ICE Futures U.S. in New York on Friday. The price declined 2.8 percent this week. The fiber reached a record $2.197 on March 7 as global demand outstripped supplies.  In India, Kapas April futures at NCDEX rose from Rs 1155 to Rs 1186 after hitting a high of 1194.50

The dollar was down 1.6 percent this week against a basket of six major currencies, enhancing the appeal of goods in the U.S., the world’s biggest cotton shipper.

The closing stock of cotton was 2.75 million bales, India Textile Ministry said in its projections, much lower than its stock estimate of 4.05 million bales in January.

Cotton arrivals in Indian spot markets till March 13 in the 2010/11 season edged up by 1.65 percent on year at 24.5 million bales of 170 kg each, lower than earlier projections. In India, the price of the most common Shankar-6 variety is quoted at 59,000 rupees per candy of 356 kg each, the Cotton Association of India data showed.

The latest estimate of the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) put India's output from the harvest at 31.2 million bales in 2010/11, lower than the previous estimate of 32.9 million bales, but still 5.8 percent higher than the year-ago period which was hit by drought. On Feb 10, the prices had touched a record high of 60,000 rupees per candy.

Sugar

Globally sugar prices have tumbled from $850 levels in January to $675 per tonne while at NCDEX April contract has fallen from Rs 2816 to Rs 2776 while May contract has fallen from Rs 2886 to Rs 2850 last week. Indian sugar exporters are finding the going tough with global prices plummeting making it unviable to export the commodity. They have blamed government indecision on allowing export of 500,000 tonnes of sugar for the present crisis.


Sugar prices have come down sharply in the recent months. At ICE Raw Sugar futures for May delivery fell 4 percent on week to 27.71 cent. The commodity reached a 30

Source : commodityonline.com