Raw sugar up

ICE raw sugar futures closed at a two-week high on Friday, on book-squaring before the end of the year in light dealings ahead of the Christmas holiday, while arabica coffee dipped on long liquidation. Cocoa futures inched lower as ample African supplies added a touch of pressure.
Liffe's softs markets will be closed for the Christmas and Boxing Day holidays on Monday and Tuesday. ICE will shut Monday and reopen on Tuesday, with its electronic platform opening later on Tuesday at 7:30 am EST (1230 GMT). ICE raw sugar futures continued to climb above last week's 6-1/2-month low and may likely to consolidate in their recent trading range, pressured by big crops in the European Union, Russia, Ukraine, India and Thailand.
ICE March raw sugar futures climbed 0.15 cent to close at 23.59 cents a lb, its highest settlement since December 7. Dealers talked of light book-squaring before year-end, and buying by small speculators, with a focus on fluctuations in the dollar. Business was very thin, with brokers saying that even cash activity was subdued at this time with many players already away for the year-end holidays.
"It's Christmas," said Alex Oliveira, senior sugar analyst for brokerage Newedge USA in New York. "The market is so dead quiet." London March white sugar futures closed up $2.40 to $611.20 per tonne in light volume of 658 lots. A US ethanol tax credit costing roughly $6 billion a year will expire on December 31, with the US industry declaring itself ready to stand on its own and Brazil hoping for a biofuels bonanza in the years ahead.
Arabica coffee futures on ICE eased despite its bullish market fundamentals due to weather-related problems in major producer Colombia. "You have a big short that started to re-establish a position on Tuesday and every day he continues to put pressure on it," said one veteran coffee dealer in New York.
ICE March arabica futures eased 1.75 cents to settle at $2.1965 per lb, while London March robusta coffee futures settled down $27 to $1,831 per tonne. Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached 578,368 tonnes by December 18 since the start of the season in October, up 14 percent from the 506,970 tonnes recorded in the same period a year ago, Bourse du Cafe et Cacao data showed. ICE March cocoa inched down $3 to finish at $2,218 per tonne, while London March cocoa closed down 7 pounds or 0.5 percent to 1,407 pounds per tonne.