LONDON: Raw sugar futures were lower on Friday with the market back on the defensive after a short-lived rebound while cocoa prices also eased and coffee edged higher. March raw sugar futures were off 0.26 cents or 1.4 percent, at 18.30 cents a lb at 1154 GMT.
The front month hit a low of 17.84 cents on Thursday, its weakest since June 2, before rebounding to a peak of 18.69 cents. "We still have a bearish bias in the short term despite the bounce. Last night's action did little to arrest sugar's weak momentum," analyst Tobin Gorey of Commonwealth Bank of Australia said.
Prices had been falling for more than two months with funds scaling back a large net long position and early indications suggesting that the global market could swing back into surplus in 2017/18 after two deficit seasons. March white sugar futures were down $5.70 or 1.1 percent at $492.50 per tonne.
Cocoa prices were also lower as the strong pace of port arrivals in top producer Ivory Coast added to already ample supplies with a global surplus widely forecast for the current 2016/17 season. March New York cocoa was down $3, or 0.1 percent, at $2,239 a tonne while March London cocoa fell 12 pounds or 0.7 percent to 1,811 pounds a tonne. Dealers said a slightly stronger pound on Friday added to weakness in London.
Robusta coffee futures edged up as the market continued to derive support from a slowdown in the harvest in Vietnam. Torrential rains in the world's top robusta producer look set to curb exports in the short term and have led to quality concerns. March robusta coffee was up $2 or 0.1 percent at $2,058 a tonne after peaking at $2,064, the highest level for the second position since late November. However, the market remains well below last month's peak of $2,199 a tonne.
"The indicators are bullish, however trading ranges remain thin suggesting recent activity could be a correction (to the downtrend in the second half of November)," technical analyst Geordie Wilkes of Sucden Financial said in a market note. Wilkes said there was resistance from a descending trend line at $2,070.
March arabica coffee rose 0.55 cent or 0.4 percent to $1.4275 per lb.
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