NEW YORK/LONDON: 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 a.m 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 Dec. 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."
The raw sugar market is on track to post a loss of over a quarter from end-2010, when it finished that year above 32 cents a lb.
Dealers said the market was anticipating that index funds would increase their weightings of sugar to take advantage of this year's price slide. Investors could be buying positions in anticipation of the index fund re-weighting and that some producers could be looking to sell later as the index fund buying kicks in.
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 Dec. 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 reestablish a position on Tuesday and every day he continues to put pressure on it," said one veteran coffee dealer in New York.
"Some of the longs we've seen buying that last two to three days, are liquidating."
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.
Premiums for higher grade Vietnamese robusta edged up this week to offset declines in London futures, while beans from Indonesia's previous harvest were still in demand despite hefty premiums, dealers said.
PLENTIFUL COCOA
ICE cocoa futures were little changed in thin with some pressure by abundant African cocoa bean supplies, dealers said.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached 578,368 tonnes by Dec. 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.
Cocoa butter ratios hardly moved in Asia this week as the physical market slowed to a trickle before the Christmas and New Year holidays, but powder still attracted buying interest from chocolate makers, dealers said.
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