Arabica coffee dips, near three-month high, sugar eases

Arabica coffee futures on ICE hovered near last week's three-month high on Tuesday, while sugar prices eased, under pressure from a brisk cane harvest in centre-south Brazil. New York cocoa firmed on technically driven buying, supported by concerns over dryness in parts of top grower Ivory Coast. Arabica coffee edged down in choppy dealings, drifting from Friday's three-month peak, and was underpinned by recent reports of tight Brazilian supplies and small bean sizes.
Pressured by a firming dollar, December Arabica traded down 1.15 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $1.3740 per lb at 1403 GMT, near Friday's high of $1.4260. September robusta coffee traded higher, up $21 or 1.2 percent, at $1,725 per tonne, and switched from a discount in early trading to a $9 premium over the second-month November contract.
"There has definitely been some short covering around in robustas," one London-based broker said. October raw sugar was down 0.04 cents a lb, or 0.4 percent, at 10.59 cents a lb, and remained within sight of last week's seven-year low of 10.37 cents. A rapid cane crush in centre-south Brazil, combined with hefty stocks in India and Thailand, weighed on sugar prices.
"It would certainly now begin to look as though, unless some bullish news becomes available soon, and with the various technical moving averages continuing to work lower, the bulls may well have to defend the 10.50 cents level," a broker said. Nick Penney, a senior trader with Sucden Financial Sugar, said: "Weather prospects continue to be good for centre-south Brazil millers with the now ended first fortnight in August expected to show a crush of around 46.5 million tonnes with no days lost to rain in the 15-day period.
"Prospects for the second half look good also with little rain showing in medium term forecasts." October white sugar traded down $3.10, or 0.9 percent, at $344.40 a tonne. December cocoa in New York traded up $21, or 0.7 percent, at $3,077 a tonne, while December cocoa in London was up 3 pounds, or 0.2 percent, at 2,044 pounds a tonne.