LONDON: Cocoa futures on ICE tumbled on Monday, unwinding gains made in the previous session as chart-inspired speculative buying petered out, while sugar prices extended gains.
COCOA
September London cocoa was down 53 pounds, or 3 percent, at 1,693 pounds a tonne by 1343 GMT.
Prices rose sharply in the previous session as chart-driven speculative buying lifted the market from three-month lows.
Dealers pointed to technical selling on Monday, noting the market was due for decline after the previous session's dramatic rally.
"We were overdue a rally but I think some people felt the move on Friday was exaggerated," one dealer said.
September New York cocoa lost $69, or 2.8 percent, to $2,360 a tonne.
Speculators cut their net long position in cocoa futures and options to a two-month low, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
Insufficient rainfall in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa-growing regions could reduce the size of harvests during the last stages of the mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
SUGAR
July raw sugar climbed 0.11 cents, or 0.9 percent, to 12.36 cents per lb, with Brazil's real currency still in focus.
On Friday prices registered their biggest one-day surge this year after the currency rallied from a two-year low.
August white sugar also rose. It gained $5.40, or 1.6 percent, to $351.90 a tonne.
The Philippines said on Monday that it will import up to 200,000 tonnes of sugar to fill a domestic supply that has fuelled a spike in prices.
Meanwhile, India is looking to export 200,000 tonnes of white sugar in the next four months.
However, dealers said that sizeable Indian exports are still unlikely because domestic prices remain well above the world market.
"Indian mills appear to be settling back to see how their domestic market reacts," Marex Spectron said in a note, adding that mills no longer seem under time pressure to export.
Ukraine's 2018 sugar beet harvest may fall 10 percent to 13.1 million tonnes due to a smaller sowing area.
COFFEE
July arabica coffee was down 0.70 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $1.1655 per lb.
July robusta coffee was up $1, or 0.06 percent, at $1,713 a tonne.
Coffee stocks held in European ports rose by 3.2 percent in April, European Coffee Federation (ECF) data showed on Monday.
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