LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE were lower on Tuesday as the recent run-up in energy prices stalled while coffee and cocoa prices also fell.
SUGAR
March raw sugar was off by 0.1 cents, or 0.7 percent, at 14.46 cents per lb by 1238 GMT.
The decline was driven partly by a modest retreat in crude oil prices on Tuesday.
The recent rise in crude oil prices to the highest in about 2-1/2 years has been supportive for sugar, potentially leading to more use of cane to produce renewable fuel ethanol.
"We remain sceptical that higher oil prices can have anything but a minor influence on near-term sugar supply and ultimately on prices. Nonetheless, others evidently disagree so we cannot ignore it," said Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey.
Sugar production in the key Centre-South region of Brazil is forecast to fall to 32.6 million tonnes in 2018/19, down from 36.4 million tonnes the previous season, the Datagro consultancy said on Tuesday.
The decline was driven by lower cane production after adverse weather and a switch to using more cane for ethanol rather than sugar.
March white sugar fell by $1.70, or 0.45 percent, to $378.30 a tonne.
COFFEE
December arabica coffee fell by 1.25 cents, or 1 percent, to $1.2430 per lb.
Dealers said arabica supplies remained ample after a significant rise in production in the 2016/17 season.
The International Coffee Organization on Tuesday raised its estimate for 2016/17 world coffee production to 157.4 million 60kg bags, driven largely by an upward revision to arabica output in Mexico and Central America.
"The market is well supplied at the start of coffee year 2017/18 by the replenishment of stocks over this past year," the ICO said in a report on Tuesday.
January robusta coffee was down $17, or 0.9 percent, at $1,838 a tonne.
Dealers said the market was keeping a close watch to see if robusta production in top producer Vietnam was curbed by Typhoon Damrey.
The storm hit a key coffee-growing region of the world's biggest producer of robusta coffee beans near the start of the harvest. But farmers in Daklak, the heart of the region, said the damage was limited.
COCOA
December London cocoa was down 6 pounds, or 0.4 percent, at 1,579 pounds a tonne after the previous session's strong advance.
March New York cocoa fell by $8, or 0.4 percent, to $2,101 a tonne.
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