NEW YORK/LONDON: Soft commodity futures finished mostly easier on Wednesday in light trade, with arabica coffee on ICE losing ground after a two-day surge ran out of steam, raw sugar down and cocoa slightly higher.
Analysts said most major players in the softs complex were already gone until the new year. Coffee is seen as having the bullish fundamentals given lingering problems in major producer Colombia, while more losses are seen in a bountifully supplied cocoa market.
"I think we're in a holiday market now," said The Price Group senior analyst Jack Scoville.
In other years, there may be several factors inspiring a rally or sell-off in tropical futures. "This year, we're sitting on our butts during the holidays," he said.
The euro and stocks moved lower as early hopes that the nearly 490 billion euros borrowed by banks from the European Central Bank at its first-ever offer of three-year loans would ease the two-year-old debt crisis began to fade.
Volume traded in soft commodities on ICE Futures US ranged from one third to over 50 percent under the 30-day average, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed.
New York's March arabica futures fell 2.90 cents to settle at $2.199 per lb. March robusta coffee on Liffe slipped $19 to finish at $1,868 a tonne.
Dealers said differentials in Vietnam remained very firm due to delays in the harvest in the world's top robusta producer. Prices are likely to dip, however, when the flow picks up.
Sugar futures also declined, but dealings were modest as well with many players on holiday through the New Year.
"We are still range bound and despite all the bearish doom and gloom the downside momentum has noticeably waned in recent sessions," broker Nick Penney of Sucden Financial said in a market note.
ICE March raw sugar futures were off 0.17 cent to close at 23.32 cents a lb. Liffe March white sugar futures dropped $4.50 to close at $603.70 per tonne.
COCOA DEFIES WEAK TREND TO MOVE UP
US cocoa futures bucked the day's weak trend in commodities and moved quietly higher, following through from Tuesday's 5.5 percent surge. London bean values ended the day up 2.5 percent.
"I think we found a short-term bottom with the rally that we had. One can actually draw a line in the sand right around $2,050 on the idea that maybe we'll trade sideways for a while," said Hector Galvan, senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago.
The $2,050 level, basis March, was considered a short-term bottom, he said.
New York's March cocoa contract was up $59 or 2.7 percent to close at $2,244 per tonne. London's March cocoa on Liffe rose 35 pounds or 2.5 percent to settle at 1,435 pounds a tonne.
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