20121123 1136 Global Commodities Related News.

Sugar Rises as Rainfall May Cut Brazilian Supplies; Cocoa Drops
Sugar rose in London on speculation that excess rain will reduce output in Brazil, the world’s largest producer. Cocoa fell, erasing earlier gains. Sugar-cane producing areas in Brazil will have rain this week, after irregular precipitation in the previous 10 days helped speed up the harvest, weather consultant Somar Meteorologia said Nov. 20. Moisture in Center South, the main growing area, by the weekend may affect fieldwork and harvesting, Somar said Nov. 19. “There’s about a month left in the crushing season, but there are some rains maybe cutting that short and forcing mills to leave cane in the field,” Keith Flury, an analyst at Rabobank International in London, said by phone today. White, or refined, sugar for delivery in March rose 0.8 percent to settle at $522.40 a metric ton on NYSE Liffe in London. ICE Futures U.S. in New York, where investors trade raw sugar, cocoa and arabica coffee, is closed today for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Cocoa for delivery in March fell 0.8 percent to 1,573 pounds ($2,506) a ton in London. Prices earlier rose as much as 0.7 percent on signs of increasing demand from processors. Cargill Inc. is ramping up cocoa processing after a slowdown earlier this year, Jos de Loor, president of the company’s cocoa and chocolate unit, said in an interview yesterday. Global grindings will rise 2.5 percent to 3.5 percent in the 2012-13 season begun last month, he said. Bean demand will outpace supply by about 50,000 metric tons in the period, according to the International Cocoa Organization. Robusta coffee for delivery in January advanced 0.6 percent to $1,873 a ton after declining 2.2 percent in the previous four sessions.

Oil Pares Weekly Gain as Middle East Tension Eases on Cease-Fire
Brent oil fell for a second day in London, paring a weekly gain, as a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas eased concern that tension in the Middle East will disrupt the region’s crude supplies. Futures slid as much as 0.3 percent, matching yesterday’s decline. The cease-fire crafted by Egypt and the U.S. halted eight days of aerial assaults that ravaged the Gaza Strip and made Tel Aviv a missile target. West Texas Intermediate futures have dropped in New York since the Nov. 21 accord. There was no floor trading in the U.S. yesterday because of the Thanksgiving holiday, and electronic transactions will be booked with today’s trades for settlement purposes.
Brent oil for January settlement fell as much 38 cents to $110.17 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and was at $110.24 at 10:04 a.m. Singapore time. Prices slipped 31 cents to $110.55 yesterday. Futures are up 1.2 percent this week and 2.7 percent this year. The European benchmark grade traded at a premium of $23.32 to its U.S. counterpart. WTI for January delivery was at $86.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 0.5 percent from the Nov. 21 close. The contract has gained 0.3 percent this week and dropped 12 percent this year. Brent in London has technical resistance along its 200-day moving average, around $111.68 a barrel today, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Futures have halted advances below this indicator twice so far this month. Sell orders tend to be clustered near chart-resistance levels.
New York crude futures may decline next week after the tension eased in the Middle East, a Bloomberg survey showed. Twelve of 27 analysts and traders, or 44 percent, forecast prices will decrease through Nov. 30. Nine respondents, or 33 percent, predicted a gain. Six forecast little change.

Gold Set for Weekly Gain as Central Banks, Investors Boost Stake
Gold is poised for a weekly advance after investors boosted holdings to an all-time high and central banks added to reserves as Europe’s debt crisis persisted. Palladium headed for the best week in more than two months. Spot gold traded at $1,729.82 an ounce at 9:51 a.m. in Singapore compared to $1,729.55 yesterday. The metal, poised for a 12th annual gain, is 0.9 percent higher this week. Holdings in bullion-backed exchange-traded products rose to 2,605.318 metric tons on Nov. 21, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Kazakhstan, Turkey and Russia boosted reserves in October, according to data on the International Monetary Fund’s website this week, joining Brazil, which raised holdings to the highest in more than 11 years. European Union leaders are unlikely to reach a budget deal at the end of a summit this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said early today in Brussels.
“The uncertainty in Europe is coming to fore again and that should be good for gold,” said Dong Zhuying, an investment consultant at Haitong Futures Co., a unit of China’s second- largest brokerage by market value. “Buying appears to be strong at the institutional, government and investor levels.” Gold for December delivery was at $1,729.60 an ounce on the Comex in New York, from $1,728.20 on Nov. 21. There was no settlement yesterday because of the Thanksgiving holiday. The euro slid 0.1 percent against the dollar as Merkel ruled out a budget accord until the new year. The U.S. Mint sold 67,000 ounces of gold coins so far in November, exceeding the 59,000 ounces for all of October, according to data on the Mint’s website. At that pace, sales for the month would be 100,500 ounces, up 145 percent from a year earlier. Billionaire investors George Soros and Louis Moore Bacon raised stakes in the biggest gold ETP in the third quarter.
Palladium fell 0.3 percent to $653.75 an ounce, paring this week’s gain to 4.2 percent, the best run since the five days to Sept. 14. Spot silver was unchanged at $33.345 an ounce, 3.1 percent higher this week and near the highest level in more than a month. Cash platinum gained 0.3 percent to $1,581.60 an ounce, set for a third weekly climb, the best such run since February.