LONDON: London cocoa futures on ICE rose on Thursday to their highest in more than five months, as speculative buying and arbitrage trading lifted the market, while New York cocoa retreated after the previous day's jump.
COCOA
* March London cocoa was up 41 pounds, or 2.4 percent, at 1,745 pounds a tonne by 1425 GMT, after climbing to 1,761 pounds per tonne, the highest for the front month since July 18.
* Dealers said the London market was lifted by arbitrage-related buying by speculators, following a holiday closure during New York's rally on Wednesday.
* "London is just catching up today," said one European dealer.
* March New York cocoa was down $50, or 2.1 percent, at $2,379 a tonne, after falling to a session low of $2,349 a tonne.
* This wiped out some of the gains made the prior day, when prices surged more than five percent to $2,436, their highest since mid-July.
* Dealers pegged Wednesday's rally on a wave of chart-inspired trading but noted the speculative buying had waned, triggering a correction.
* "The move yesterday was clearly exaggerated," the dealer said. "But the funds seem to want to be long. They're moving towards being net long."
* Fundamentally, market focus remained on Ivory Coast where favourable weather and strong port arrivals continue to signal a large crop this season.
* However, dealers noted industry buyers remained well covered and were mostly on the sidelines.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee fell 1.15 cent, or 1.1 percent, to $1.0275 per lb, giving up some of Wednesday's gains.
* Dealers noted prices were partly weighed down by the weaker Brazilian real. It encourages producer selling by improving local returns on dollar-traded commodities like coffee and sugar.
* Prices also remained under pressure from expectations for ample supplies, which helped push the spot contract to a three-month low of 98.60 cents last week.
* March robusta coffee was unchanged at $1,515 a tonne.
* Vietnam's coffee export volumes for 2018 are expected to rise by 20.1 percent from last year, government data showed on Thursday.
* Vietnam is the world largest robusta producer. Farmers have picked nearly 85 percent of the 2018-19 harvest, which is expected to end mid-January.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar was down 0.06 cent or 0.5 percent at 12.33 cents per lb, also weighed down by the Brazilian currency.
* March white sugar fell $0.30, or 0.1 percent, to $337.40 a tonne.
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