NEW YORK/LONDON: Raw sugar and arabica coffee futures on ICE turned lower on Monday, shedding earlier gains as the presidential election-induced rally in Brazil's currency faltered and speculative buying waned, while New York cocoa futures fell more than 3 percent.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar settled down 0.34 cent, or 2.5 percent, at 13.5 cents per lb., after earlier climbing to 14.05 cents.
* Prices were initially boosted by strength in the real currency, which jumped to its highest in 5-1/2 months after Brazil elected right-wing market favorite Jair Bolsonaro over the weekend.
* However, sugar prices fell back into negative territory as the real gave up most of its gains and speculative buying waned.
* "The market just got overdone and is correcting. The world market for sugar is projecting a pretty big production surplus. Stocks are still growing. The fundamentals are still pretty bearish," said Kevin Combs, commodities trader at McKeany-Flavell.
* March white sugar settled down $8, or 2.2 percent, at $364.70 per tonne.
* The Indian Sugar Mills Association cut its forecast for sugar output in the current 2018/19 season to 32 million tonnes, from a previous forecast of 35-35.5 million tonnes.
COFFEE
* December arabica coffee settled down 5.4 cent, or 4.5 percent, at $1.1425 per lb., having earlier dropped about 4.8 percent to $1.1395, lowest since Oct. 12.
* Dealers said real-related speculative buying had petered out, giving way to some producer selling.
* However, they noted the market was still technically supported as prices remained above the 200-day moving average.
* "If we start seeing some negative technical closes, then we might start to see the funds getting short again," said one European dealer.
* January robusta coffee settled down $43, or 2.5 percent, at $1,687 per tonne after earlier sinking to $1,675, the lowest since Oct. 11.
* Vietnam's coffee exports for the January-October period are seen rising 21.5 percent from the same period a year ago.
COCOA
* December New York cocoa settled down $56, or 2.5 percent, at $2,195 per tonne, earlier plunging more than 3 percent to $2,180.
* December London cocoa settled down 31 pounds, or 1.8 percent, at 1,673 pounds per tonne, earlier touching 1,718 pounds, its highest since July 20.
* "The large arrivals are pressuring cocoa," a US trader said.
* Cocoa arrivals at ports in top-grower Ivory Coast reached 246,000 tonnes between the beginning of the season on Oct. 1 and Oct. 28, exporters estimated, up 46 percent from the same period last season.
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