LONDON: Robusta coffee futures on ICE fell on Wednesday in a technical correction amid lacklustre physical demand while cocoa slumped in thin volume as chart signals and ample supplies weighed on prices.
COFFEE
September robusta coffee was $22, or 1.02 percent, lower at $2,142 per tonne by 1333 GMT after hitting a session low of $2,120.
Dealers said the move was a technical correction after the market edged up too far in tandem with arabica coffee recently.
"A lot of the volume is in spreads," said one dealer. "Overall, we've seen prices going up and today has really only taken us down to the levels we saw last week."
Physical demand for robusta has been sluggish, dealers said, with most of the industry well covered and unwilling to pay high spot prices for the coffee variety.
September arabica coffee fell 0.30 cents, or 0.21 percent, to $1.4245 per lb.
Prices hit a 4-1/2 month high on Tuesday on short-covering amid quality concerns in top grower Brazil.
Brazil exported 1.51 million 60-kg bags of green coffee in July, 8 percent less than a year earlier, as slow arrivals of this year's crop cut volumes, exporters association Cecaf? said on Wednesday.
COCOA
September London cocoa slipped 16 pounds, or 1.02 percent, to 1,560 pounds a tonne.
September New York cocoa fell $17, or 0.84 percent, to $2,001 a tonne.
Dealers said the market was pressured by negative chart formations, after prices stumbled on technical resistance the previous day and closed lower.
"Buying momentum has waned and prices are under some pressure," Geordie Wilkes of Sucden Financial said.
Dealers also said ample nearby supplies were weighing on the market, despite forecasts for lower production next season.
Three former executives at Transmar Commodity Group Ltd have been charged with defrauding banks to win a $400 million credit line for their now bankrupt cocoa trading company, US federal prosecutors said on Tuesday.
SUGAR
October raw sugar was down 0.11 cent, or 0.80 percent, at 13.67 cents per lb having earlier hit its lowest since July 13.
Dealers said prices were partly pressured by expectations of a wave of hedging by producers in Brazil.
October white sugar fell $0.90, or 0.24 percent, to $379.60 a tonne.
The whites market has been underpinned by India potentially allowing more duty-free imports, but dealers said the 200,000 tonnes being considered was too small to make an impact.
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