LONDON: London cocoa futures on ICE hit their lowest price in nearly three months on Monday as speculators continued to liquidate long positions amid ample cocoa supply.

Sugar and coffee gained, meanwhile.

COCOA

March London cocoa was down 0.6% to 1,708 pounds per tonne at 1616 GMT - having hit its weakest since early August at 1,702.

March New York cocoa rose 0.6% to $2,559 a tonne.

ICE speculators increased their net short position in New York cocoa by 1,859 contracts to 12,531 in the week ended Oct. 26, data showed.

Dealers said cocoa was under pressure from generally favourable crop conditions in top producer Ivory Coast, as well as a weaker-than-expected demand recovery.

Weather forecasters Climate42 noted a massive wave of flowering and setting of cocoa pods in No. 2 producer Ghana, adding climate conditions were pointing to a good start for the mid-crop.

COFFEE

January robusta coffee rose 2.3% to $2,264 a tonne, having hit a 4-1/2 year high of $2,278 last week.

Indonesia's exports of Sumatra robusta in October totalled 12,349.62 tonnes, down 51.5% from a year ago, data showed.

Robusta supplies are tightening thanks to shipping backlogs affecting top producer Vietnam and others.

December arabica coffee rose 1.9% to $2.0795 per lb? amid ongoing concern over the size of the next Brazil crop.

SUGAR

March raw sugar rose 0.7% to 19.41 cents per lb.

Higher energy prices in Brazil are boosting sugar, potentially increasing the amount of cane used to produce ethanol rather than sugar.

On the downside though, rains in Brazil continue to improve the outlook for the next crop, while the Indian and Thai harvests are progressing well.

Dealers noted sugar is struggling to breach 20 cents as funds are cutting their long position.

ICE speculators reduced their net long in raw sugar by 14,031 contracts in the week ended Oct. 26 to 112,117, the smallest since end-March. December white sugar rose 0.6% to $511.90 a tonne.