LONDON: Sugar futures hit two-month lows on Wednesday as worries over dry weather in Brazil continued to fade, while coffee futures slipped.
SUGAR
* May raw sugar slipped 0.2 cents, or 1.7 percent, to 12.22 cents per lb at 1541 GMT.
* "Everyone was hanging their hat on dry weather in Brazil and now rains have come in great quantities," said a dealer. But he added: "I expect the decline to slow down below 12 cents, people will engage in purchases 40 points down from here."
* Oil prices fell, adding pressure to sugar by encouraging farmers to crush cane to produce more of the sweetener rather than bio-ethanol.
* Speculators reduced their bearish stance on ICE raw sugar futures in the week to Feb. 26 to their smallest net short since mid-December, data showed.
* May white sugar fell $4.10, or 1.2 percent, to $338.80 per tonne.
COFFEE
* May arabica coffee fell 0.65 cents, or 0.65 percent, to 99 cents per lb, after rising 2.4 percent on Tuesday as some market players sought to pick up bargains following recent falls.
* Speculators lifted their net short position on ICE arabica coffee futures in the week to Feb. 26 to its biggest in four months, data showed.
* "You're moving from a period of more than enough (coffee supply) to still more than enough but not quite as much. It should find a floor eventually but investment funds are very keen to keep selling," said a dealer.
* Last week, prices fell to a more than five-month low of 96.35 cents, weighed down by plentiful supplies.
* May robusta coffee rose $1, or 0.1 percent, at $1,528 per tonne.
COCOA
* May New York cocoa rose $6, or 0.3 percent, to $2,163 per tonne, after falling to a 2-1/2-month low in the prior session.
* Speculators boosted their net short position on ICE cocoa futures to its largest in over two months in the week to Feb. 26, data showed.
* New York May cocoa looks neutral in a range of $2,143-$2,170 per tonne, and a break-out of that range could suggest a direction, according to Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao.
* May London cocoa was flat at 1,629 pounds per tonne, after dipping to a one-month low in the prior session.
* Hot weather and well below average rainfall in most of Ivory Coast's cocoa regions last week could jeopardise the quality and the size of the April-to-September crop.
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