CHICAGO/LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE hit a three-month low on Wednesday, dragged down by concerns about a global economic slowdown while cocoa also fell.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar settled down 0.1 cent, or 0.83 percent, at 11.93 cents per lb after setting a three-month low of 11.83 cents.
* Dealers said funds had been extending a net short position against the backdrop of macroeconomic concerns and that improving crop outlooks in key producers India and Thailand remained bearish influences.
* "Outside markets are definitely playing a big factor (in the price today)," said RJO Futures senior market strategist Peter Mooses.
* World shares began 2019 on a downbeat note. Early in the session, oil prices and bond yields skidded lower and the Japanese yen strengthened as data from China to France confirmed investors' fears of a global economic slowdown. Oil prices later rose as US stocks pared losses.
* March white sugar settled down $3.70, or 1.1 percent, at $328.80 per tonne, earlier sliding to $327.80, its lowest since Oct. 2.
COCOA
* March New York cocoa settled down $22, or 0.9 percent, at $2,394 per tonne.
* March London cocoa settled down 3 pounds, or 0.2 percent, at 1,763 pounds per tonne.
* Dealers said the recent run-up was driven largely by fund short-covering against the backdrop of dry weather in West Africa.
* "Early growth of the mid-year crop will remain stress(ed)
as significant dryness prevails," weather service Radiant Solutions said of the West Africa cocoa growth region.
* Dealers also noted, however, that the pace of port arrivals in top-producer Ivory Coast remained strong. Cocoa arrivals reached 1.051 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, exporters estimated, up about 19 percent from 882,000 tonnes in the same period last season.
COFFEE
* March robusta coffee settled up $5, or 0.3 percent, at $1,530 per tonne.
* Indonesian robusta coffee bean exports from the province of Lampung in Sumatra stood at 8,312.4 tonnes in December, data from the local trade office showed.
* March arabica coffee settled down 2.35 cent, or 2.31 percent, at $0.995 per lb.
* "It's safe to say it's in a holding pattern," said Judy Ganes, president of J. Ganes Consulting. "There's a seasonal tendency for the coffee market to rise in the second half of January, but the normal warning signs for that aren't flashing yet."
* Dealers said prices, which were higher earlier in the session, declined on broad-based weakness in other markets.
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