LONDON: Raw sugar futures prices firmed on Thursday as light short-covering helped the market partly correct after it plunged to its lowest level in a year in the previous session.
SUGAR
July raw sugar was up 0.19 cent, or 1.24 percent, at 15.57 cents per lb by 1134 GMT in low volume, after earlier touching 15.69 cents.
Prices tumbled 4.4 percent in a record one-day trading volume on Wednesday, slipping to its weakest since April 28, 2016 on a wave of speculative selling.
The market remained only marginally off the lows on Thursday, with dealers noting gains represented a correction after it slipped into oversold territory.
However, some noted more weakness could lie ahead amid fragile technicals and mounting worries about a surplus next season.
"We suspect momentum investors can still sell plenty more if they choose to do so," said Tobin Gorey of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The focus was on the expiry of the May contract on Friday.
Exports from Brazil's center-south cane belt are expected to fall by 400,000 tonnes in the 2017/18 season, industry group Unica said on Wednesday in its first estimate for the next crop.
This is mainly due to a fall in the cane crush, although the impact on sugar output will be partly offset by more cane being turned into sugar and a higher level of sugar extraction.
Egypt's General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC) has cancelled a purchase tender for at least 50,000 tonnes of raw sugar, it said on Thursday.
August white sugar also rose $2.60, or 0.57 percent, to $455.90 a tonne.
COFFEE
July robusta was down $5, or 0.26 percent, at$1,924 a tonne, extending sharp falls over the last week.
The second month slid to a low of $1,871 this week, its weakest in 7-1/2 months, on a wave of long liquidation by speculators.
Ivory Coast exported 8,465 tonnes of coffee beans in the first three months of 2017, down 48 percent from the same period last year, provisional port data showed on Thursday.
July arabica coffee fell 0.50 cents, or 0.38 percent, to $1.3020 per lb.
COCOA
July London cocoa fell 12 pounds, or 0.81 percent, to 1,461 pounds a tonne, pressured by a firmer pound.
July New York cocoa slipped $1, or 0.05 percent, to $1,874 a tonne.
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