LONDON: Raw sugar futures slipped on Monday as a global supply glut overshadowed signs that a bout of speculative selling could be petering out, while New York cocoa eased from its highest in over two months.
SUGAR
March raw sugar was down 0.04 cent, or 0.3 percent, at 13.59 cents per lb by 1156 GMT, after rising to 13.71.
Speculators raised their net short position in raw sugar to a record 175,421 contracts in the week to Jan. 30, exchange data showed on Friday.
While this signalled there is little scope for further speculative selling, dealers noted the focus remained on a persistent global supply glut.
"There does seem to be no escaping the bearishness in the market, with a number in the industry expecting the surplus environment to continue into 2018/19," ING said in a market note.
Dubai's Al Khaleej Sugar Refinery has agreed to build a major agro-industrial complex to produce beet sugar under a deal signed with the Egyptian government, the world's largest port-based sugar refinery said on Sunday.
March white sugar fell $0.50, or 0.1 percent, to $357.60 per tonne.
White sugar prices have been partly pressured by a rebound in Indian production, as many expect the country will export its excess supplies to the global market.
"We suspect that the government will want to wait until they get the first intimations about the 2018 monsoon," said Marex Spectron in an update. "If those are favourable and domestic markets still low, they may well allow subsidized exports."
COCOA
March New York cocoa fell $12, or 0.6 percent, to$2,047 a tonne, after hitting $2,067, its highest since Nov. 30.
Prices rallied in the prior session on technically-inspired short covering.
May London cocoa eased 1 pound or 0.1 percent to 1,454pounds a tonne.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached about 53,000 tonnes between Jan. 29 and Feb. 4, up from 43,000 tonnes during the same period last season.
COFFEE
March arabica coffee fell 0.30 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $1.2010 per lb.
March robusta coffee was up $2 or 0.1 percent, at $1,747 a tonne.
Global coffee supplies will shift to a surplus in 2018-19 with top grower Brazil on track to harvest a record crop, but prices will rise modestly by the end of the year, a Reuters poll of 14 traders and analysts showed.
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