NEW YORK/LONDON: Cocoa on ICE Futures US jumped on Tuesday, erasing the two previous session's losses, as speculators resumed their buying amid expectations of strong demand data due next week.
Benchmark arabica coffee futures eased.
COCOA
* September New York cocoa settled up $58, or 2.4 percent, at $2,501 a tonne.
* September London cocoa settled up 34 pounds, or 1.9 percent, at 1,816 pounds a tonne.
* Speculators lead the market, said one European dealer. "The market is jumping around because we're awaiting fresh news, we are trying to work out where the next direction is."
* Grind data, a key demand indicator, due out next week underpinned prices, with traders citing expectations of European grindings to be up 2-3 percent.
* Prices also got a boost early in the session from a strong premium of spot prices in London, indicating a healthy appetite to scoop up the delivery.
* The West Africa mid-crop, in the world's top growing region, started to stabilize and likely will leave production in Ivory Coast and Ghana for the full season below last year's totals, said an analyst.
COFFEE
* September arabica coffee settled down 0.25 cent, or 0.2 percent, at $1.148 per lb.
* "There's nothing bullish about coffee except a record short (held by speculators)," said a US trader, noting ample global supplies behind the depressed prices.
* Weekly US government data published on Monday, delayed due to the July Fourth US Independence Day holiday, showed noncommercial dealers boosted their bearish stance in the commodity to a fresh record in the most recent week.
* "It does definitely leave the door open for short-covering," said a European dealer.
* Brazilian cooperative Cooxup? said it saw the slowest pace of harvesting, at this point in the season, since 2015.
* September robusta coffee settled up $10, or 0.6 percent, at $1,705 per tonne.
SUGAR
* October raw sugar settled barely changed at 11.41 cents per lb.
* Biweekly cane data was due Wednesday. Drought has diminished the cane production outlook in Brazil's key center-south growing region and raised the prospect of an early end to 2018's harvest.
* An ethanol stocks build-up raised the prospect that top-grower Brazil's cane millers may switch production back to sugar, which could further pressure prices already hovering near mid-May lows, traders said.
* October white sugar settled up $1.20, or 0.4 percent, at $332.10 per tonne.
* The premium for the August contract weakened slightly, but remained at about $7 over the October position.
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