LONDON: Raw sugar futures eased on Wednesday, pressured by a brisk cane crush in centre-south Brazil, while arabica coffee edged up, supported by concerns over the quality of new crop Brazilian beans.
A recovering pound gave support to New York cocoa futures, which held steady.
Raw sugar futures edged down, with traders focused on the cane crush as the harvest approached its peak in top grower Brazil.
"The market seems to be in the hands of day traders and technical/computer based systems," said Michael Liddiard of consultancy Agrilion.
Platts Kingsman said on Wednesday it has cut its forecast for the size of an anticipated global sugar deficit in the 2016/17 season (October/September) to 6.28 million tonnes.
October raw sugar on ICE was down 0.06 cent, or 0.3 percent, at 19.30 cents per lb at 1226 GMT, holding above Monday's three-week low of 19.13 cents.
October white sugar was down $1.90, or 0.35 percent, at $533.60 per tonne.
Arabica coffee futures edged up, supported by a prolonged truckers' strike in Colombia which raised risks of a slowdown in exports.
September arabica was up 1.15 cent, or 0.8 percent, at $1.4770 per lb.
Robusta steadied, underpinned by tight global stocks and a very poor harvest in Brazil.
Dealers also referred to a late start to robusta harvesting in Vietnam and expectations of lower robusta output in India in 2016/17 due to adverse weather.
"We're in a very tight robusta market and that should be supportive," a senior European physical coffee trader said.
September robusta was up $2, or 0.1 percent, at $1,814 per tonne.
Robusta coffee futures are expected to remain near 16-month highs for the next few months boosted by tight stocks, with the jury still out on whether an expected la Nina weather pattern will eat into supply, industry sources say.
September New York cocoa was flat at $2,998 per tonne.
September London cocoa was down 2 pounds, or 0.1 percent, at 2,435 pounds per tonne.
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