LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE rose on Monday as the heavy use of cane to produce ethanol in Brazil dented the outlook for sugar output, while coffee and cocoa prices were lower.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar rose 0.13 cents, or 1.0 percent, to 12.86 cents per lb by 1449 GMT after earlier climbing to a peak of 13.16 cents.
* Dealers said cane and sugar production data for Centre-South Brazil issued by cane industry group UNICA was seen as constructive.
* The data, for the second half of October, showed just 30.2 percent of the cane had been used to make sugar rather than ethanol. An S&P Platts survey of analysts forecast the mix at 30.51 percent.
* "I think people are carrying that (the lower sugar mix) forward for the next couple of months and have lost a bit of sugar from their forecasts," one dealer said.
* Dealers said the market overall appeared rangebound, partly reflecting the current largely neutral stance of investment funds.
* "They (funds) are not really giving it any direction," one dealer said.
* Speculators switched back to a net short position in raw sugar on ICE Futures US in the week to Nov. 6, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
* December white sugar, which expires on Thursday, was down $2.10, or 0.6 percent, at $342.00 a tonne
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee was down 2.80 cents, or 2.4 percent, at $1.1470 per lb.
* Dealers said the market was weighed partly by a weakening in Brazil's real currency. A weaker real weighs on prices because it increases local currency returns on dollar-traded commodities, encouraging Brazilian producers to sell.
* January robusta coffee was down $17, or 1.0 percent, at $1,668 a tonne.
* Dealers said the harvest in top robusta producer Vietnam was gathering pace, helping to keep the market on the defensive.
COCOA
* March New York cocoa fell $2, or 0.1 percent, to$2,285 a tonne.
* Dealers said the market was consolidating after a sharp retreat from last week's 3-1/2 month peak of $2,410.
* They noted the outlook for crops in West Africa remained generally favourable.
* Sunny spells in most of Ivory Coast last week were expected to boost the main cocoa crop in the world's top producer, farmers said on Monday.
* March London cocoa fell 12 pounds, or 0.7 percent, to 1,658 pounds a tonne.
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