LONDON: Raw sugar prices on ICE were firmly range bound on Monday and expected to remain so for the season ahead, while arabica coffee was not far off a 13 year low.
SUGAR
* May raw sugar dipped 0.01 cent, or 0.1 percent, to 12.76 cents per lb at 1134 GMT.
* The market has been trading in a tight range between about 12 and 13.5 cents since November.
* Sugar prices are poised to stay range bound for up to a year, said Marex Spectron analyst Robin Shaw. "Sugar is mathematically forced to stay within the ethanol parity (range). It can't go below ethanol parity or above, its stuck."
* Speculators reduced their net short position in raw sugar by 17,250 contracts to 96,849 contracts in the week to April 9, their smallest net short in about a month.
* India is likely to receive average monsoon rains this year, raising expectations of higher farm and economic growth in Asia's third-biggest economy, where half of the farmland lacks irrigation.
* August white sugar was up $0.9, or 0.3 percent, at $338.20 a tonne.
COFFEE
* May arabica coffee was down 0.1 cent, or 0.1 percent, at 90.30 cents per lb, after slumping to a new 13-year low of 89.35 cents on Friday.
* Colombia will give coffee farmers an additional $32 million in subsidies and tree replacement aid, amid low international prices that have left growers struggling to break even.
* In the week to April 9, speculators cut their bearish stance in arabica coffee by 6,153 lots to 71,151 lots, its smallest since late February.
* Massive Brazilian exports of both arabica and robusta beans continue to weigh on prices.
* May robusta coffee was up $10, or 0.7 percent, at $1,397 a tonne.
COCOA
* May London cocoa fell 14 pounds, or 0.8 percent, to 1,821 pounds a tonne, having hit a nine month peak of $1,839 on Friday.
* Speculators sharply reduced their bearish stance on cocoa by 18,778 lots to 26,752 lots, the smallest in over a month.
* The market's recent run-up has been fuelled by speculative short covering amid now-fading concerns about dry weather in top grower Ivory Coast.
* European grind data, an indicator of demand, is set to be released on Tuesday, while North American data is expected on Thursday.
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