SOFTS-Raw sugar pulls away from recent high; coffee also down

Updates with closing prices, weekly changes and comments

NEW YORK/LONDON, February 3 (Reuters) – Raw sugar futures fell on Friday, with the market slipping further from the six-year high set earlier in the week, while coffee and cocoa prices also fell.

There was from the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

SUGAR

* March raw sugar SBc1 stood 0.42 cents, or 1.9%, at 21.24 cents a pound, after hitting a six-year high of 21.86 cents on Wednesday. The contract gained 1.3% on the week, after rising 6.3% the previous week.

* Dealers said the recent market rally was partly due to lower than-expected production in India, heightening concerns about tight supplies.

* Heavy rains in India, the of the world second-largest producer, led to a reduction in cane crushing and “catalyzed higher sugar prices,” Fitch Solutions said in a note on Friday.

* Brazil’s decision to end a tax exemption fuel ethanol imports could also lead to increased use of sugar cane to produce biofuel domestically at the expense of sugar.

* March white sugar LSUc1 fell $15.50, or 2.7%, to $551.30 per tonne. The contract lost 2% in the week.

COFFEE

* Arabica coffee from March KCc1 stood 5.1 cents, or 2.9%, at $1.728 a pound, extending its retreat from Wednesday’s three-month high of $1.8420. The contract, however, posted a gain of 1.7% over the week.

* The market was supported by short fund coverage, strong physical premiums on Brazil and some say production from the world’s top producer could be lower than expected in the upcoming 2023/24 season.

* The trader Comexim is waiting Brazil’s new crop is expected to grow by 10%, but has revised down its forecast for the current season.

* March robusta coffee LRCc1 fell $18, or 0.9%, to $2,031 per tonne. He lost 1% in the week.

* Total world coffee exports in December fell 7.7% from the same month a year earlier to 9.81 million 60kg bags, THE international coffee organization said.

COCOA

* New York Cocoa March CCc1settled down $14, or 0.5%, to $2,569 per tonne. The contract lost 2% in the week.

* Cocoa March in London LCCc1fell 13 pounds, or 0.6%, to 1,999 pounds per ton​.

(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Nigel Hunt; Editing by David Goodman and Jonathan Oatis)

((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters messaging: marcelo.teixeira.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net – https://twitter.com/tx_marcelo))

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