LONDON: Raw sugar futures fell to a fresh 10-month low on Wednesday, weighed down by technical and macro economic pressures, while coffee slipped in tandem with broader commodity markets.
SUGAR
May raw sugar futures were down 0.16 cents, or 0.93 percent, at 17.13 cents a lb at 1314 GMT after touching a low of 17.02 cents, the weakest for the front month since May 2016.
Dealers said prices were pressured by fund activity, with fresh short-selling, although there was little liquidation by those with bullish positions.
"The fund community must now have a significant portion of fresh shorts and we would guess the fund net long is now somewhere around 65/70k lots," said Sucden Financial's Tom Kujawa in a note.
Further downside potential was seen as limited, with dealers noting chart signals pointed to the market being in oversold territory.
May white sugar fell $1.50, or 0.31 percent, to $484.40 a tonne after dipping to $481.70, its weakest since June 2016.
Brazilian sugar mills have sold forward 52.4 percent of the exportable volume projected for the 2017/18 center-south crop, Sao Paulo-based Archer Consulting said on Tuesday.
COFFEE
May arabica dropped 2.15 cents, or 1.46 percent, to$1.4495 per lb.
Dealers said broader commodity market weakness was weighing on arabica, even as system funds took a breather from aggressive selling this week.
Oil prices hit their lowest since November, while the Thomson Reuters CRB index, a measure of 19 commodities, fell further on Wednesday.
May robusta also fell $8, or 0.37 percent, to $2,163 a tonne, with dealers pointing to more physical selling than expected in Vietnam.
"The internal price in Vietnam has been very high and the crop is quite low," one said. "So there's been quite a lot of front-loading of selling. But that selling has gone on longer than we anticipated."
India has lifted its temporary ban on import of six commodities from Vietnam, including coffee, Vietnam's trade ministry said on Wednesday.
Uganda exported 46 percent more coffee in February from the same month last year, the regulator Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) said on Wednesday.
COCOA
Cocoa futures rose, with May New York up $9, or 0.42 percent, at $2,163 a tonne, on continued short-covering.
May London cocoa rose 16 pounds, or 0.92 percent, to 1,746 pounds a tonne.
Speculators have scrambled to cover a large net short position in both New York and London, after prices rebounded from multi-year lows.
However, the market is vulnerable to a supply glut amid a potentially record global cocoa surplus in the current season.
<Center><b><i>Copyright Reuters, 2010</b></i><br></center>
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