LONDON: Raw sugar prices on ICE edged lower on Wednesday after hitting a two-week high in the prior session, while arabica coffee recovered from 13-year lows.
SUGAR
* May raw sugar fell 0.09 cent, or 0.7 percent, to 12.57 cents per lb at 1141 GMT, after touching a two-week high of 12.77 cents on Tuesday.
* A dealer said the market was stubbornly range bound, with funds not keen to extend their short positions and the downside limited by energy prices, which tend to prompt Brazilian mills to use cane to make ethanol rather than sugar.
* Brazil's centre-south cane mills are seen allocating 36 percent of the crop to sugar production in 2019/20, according to Arceher consulting.
* Brazil's March sugar exports were the smallest for the month since 2012, due in part to increased ethanol production.
* May white sugar was up $0.20, or 0.1 percent, at $331.30 a tonne.
COFFEE
* May arabica coffee rose 1.45 cent, or 1.6 percent, to 93.10 cents per lb after dipping to 91.25 cents on Tuesday, the weakest since December 2005.
* Arabica prices have plunged more than 10 percent so far this year and speculators are extending their net short positions against the backdrop of excess supplies, especially from top producer Brazil.
* Honduran coffee exports rose 2.2 percent in March compared to the same month last year.
* May robusta coffee rose $19, or 1.3 percent to $1,432 a tonne after dipping to a low of $1,395 on Tuesday, the weakest since March 2016.
COCOA
* May London cocoa was flat at 1,770 pounds a tonne after rising to a peak of 1,774 pounds, the highest since Feb. 22.
* The market has been supported by concerns that dry weather could reduce the size of the mid-crop in top grower Ivory Coast.
* A strong pound kept London cocoa's gains in check, however.
* May New York cocoa rose $3, or 0.1 percent, to $2,360 a tonne, having hit its highest since Jan. 14 at $2,374.
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