US MIDDAY: soft commodities slip

Soft commodity futures slipped Friday on broad-based profit-taking as the market seemingly paused to catch its breath after surging strongly this week, analysts said. Arabica coffee pulled back from near a 14-year top, US cocoa eased from a year high and raw sugar lost ground in a choppy week.
The resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak barely registered on the softs complex, even though Egypt is a large importer of sugar. The key May raw sugar contract on ICE Futures US lost 0.80 cent to finish at 29.39 cents per lb. The May cocoa contract in New York eased $2 to end at $3,371 per tonne. New York's May arabica coffee futures fell 2.90 cents to close at $2.5495 per lb.