Soft commodities mostly lower

Soft commodity futures finished mostly lower on Friday as investors mulled whether a deal to end the euro zone debt crisis will stick. US and European shares were little changed and the euro eased as investor confidence remained shaky despite the deal. "I think there is some nervousness about the veracity and strength of this European debt solution," said Country Hedging Inc senior analyst Sterling Smith.
New York's December arabica coffee futures increased 0.55 cent to close at $2.3515 a lb. London's January robusta contract shed $4 to close at $1,899 a tonne. Arabica coffee turned lower early on the unusually large amount of coffee that was suddenly pending grading at ICE Futures US But the market reversed higher on short-covering by funds, and concerns about crop and infrastructure damage in Central America following weeks of heavy rain, dealers said.
Central America produces high-quality arabica beans. A total of 93,329 60-kg bags of coffee held at ports including Antwerp, Hamburg, Bremen, Houston and New York awaited grading. Dealers said it wasn't clear whether this was coffee that was being re-graded after expiring or whether it was washed milds that had not been sold as roasters switch to more Brazilian coffee.
"We believe that any rain damage is very limited. The damage is to infrastructure, and there may be some modest delays, but as they are neither harvesting nor shipping as yet, nothing has been delayed today," said James Hearn, joint head of agriculture at Marex Spectron. Sugar and cocoa futures slipped. New York's March raw sugar contract dropped 0.71 cent, or 2.64 cent, to finish at 26.15 cents a lb. London's December white sugar contract fell $12.80 to end at $702.10 a tonne. New York's December cocoa futures slipped $8 to finish at $2,748 per tonne. London's December cocoa contract shed 14 pounds to finish at 1,700 pounds a tonne.