LONDON: Sugar futures fell to fresh-eight-month lows on Thursday as improving crop prospects weighed, while ICE arabica coffee prices eased to trade below the 34-year high hit earlier in the week, Below are highlights for the coffee, cocoa and sugar markets:
SUGAR:
Sugar futures hit eight-month lows in early trading, as the improving supply outlook in key producers Brazil and Thailand was bearish for the market. ICE May raw sugar futures fell 0.07 cent or 0.3 percent to 21.28 cents a lb at 0816 GMT.
The contract dipped to 21.20 cents earlier in the session, the lowest level for the front month since September 2010, Liffe August white sugar fell $2.30 or 0.4 percent to $590.40, just above the eight-month low of $589.40 hit earlier in the session.India's June-September monsoon rains are expected to withdraw on schedule, the chief of the weather office said on Wednesday, unlike last year when late end-season rains hit sugar output in the world's biggest consumer.
Some Brazilian sugar and ethanol mills are taking longer than expected to begin harvesting cane in the center-south region, as producers choose to wait for yields to improve, cane industry association Unica said on Wednesday.
U.S. senators from farm states introduced legislation on Wednesday that would modify subsidies for the ethanol industry instead of abruptly ending them as would a bill proposed by other senators.
A bearish target at 20.02 cents remains intact for New York sugar based on its wave pattern and a Fibonacci projection analysis, according to Reuters analyst Wang Tao.
COFFEE:
Arabica coffee futures edged lower in early trade, consolidating below their 34-year peak, after sliding around five percent the previous session in a sell-off across the commodity complex.
ICE July arabica coffee fell 2 cent or 0.7 percent to $2.9250 per lb at 0818 GMT, below in Tuesday's 34-year peak of $3.0890.
Liffe July robustas were down $25 or 1.4 percent at $2,542 a tonne.
Vietnam raised its coffee export forecast for calendar 2011 by 4 percent to 1.3 million tonnes, or 21.67 million bags, the Agriculture Ministry said, citing rising shipments of the commodity so far this year.
Indonesia's robusta coffee beans exports from the main growing area in southern Sumatra nearly doubled in April compared with the same month a year ago, trade data showed on Thursday.
New York coffee may extend its previous session loss to $2.8280 per lb, as indicated by its wave pattern and a Fibonacci retracement analysis, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.COCOA
ICE cocoa futures fell in early trade, as the imminent resumption of exports from top producer Ivory Coast was bearish for the near-term outlook.ICE second-month, July cocoa was down $70, or 2.2 percent at $3,141 per tonne at 0819 GMT.
New York cocoa is expected to fall towards $3,020 per tonne, as an "A-B-C" corrective wave cycle has completed on the rise from $2,940 to $3,348, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
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