New York cocoa futures rallied on Tuesday as a bout of short-covering lifted prices off fresh near four-year lows touched in earlier trade. The March New York cocoa contract climbed $50, or 2.41 percent to $2,129 a tonne by 1502 GMT. The front month had earlier dipped to a low of $2,072, its weakest since March 2013. "The way that we closed yesterday, I think most people anticipated that we'd find some follow-through (selling) on the recent lows," one dealer said.
"We had a bit of a drop off but the market held up. And I think it stirred a little bit of buying and we've had a short-covering response."
March London cocoa was up 17 pounds, or 1.01 percent, to 1,704 pounds per tonne.
Prices were also supported by provisional port data showing Ivory Coast exported 305,125 tonnes of raw cocoa beans in the first three months of the 2016/17 season, down almost 15 percent from the same period the previous year.
March arabica coffee fell 2.65 cents, or 1.75 percent, to $1.467 per lb, deepening technically-driven losses from the previous day. March robusta coffee futures also fell $8, or 0.36 percent, to $2,229 a tonne, with the market monitoring whether Brazil's Espirito Santo region will receive much-needed rain later this week.
March raw sugar futures rose 0.05 cents, or 0.25 percent to 20.36 cents per lb, while March white sugar was up $0.60, or 0.11 percent, at $538.60 per tonne.
Brazil's centre-south cane production is seen at 612 million tonnes versus 605.5 million tonnes in 2016/17, Datagro consultancy said on Tuesday.
The projection for the cane crush in 2017/18 is above the top end of a range projected by Datagro late last year between 580 million tonnes and 610 million tonnes, as favourable rains, better crop care boosts crop prospects.
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