London coffee and sugar down; cocoa up

London robusta coffee futures settled weaker on Thursday on selling linked to the US arabicas market, underpinned by concerns over continuing dry weather in top coffee producer Brazil. Cocoa edged higher after a choppy session and white sugar futures dipped at the close, pressured by a huge global oversupply of the sweetener, dealers said.
November robustas settled down $12 at $1,922 per tonne in moderate volume of 3,257 lots, as the key November/January narrowed further to $106 from $108 on Wednesday. A dealer predicted further weakness in the November/January spread.
"That will probably continue as the funds roll out of their longs," he said. "London has not really done much all week despite New York going up. The arbitrage is just getting stronger."
Dry weather in the world's biggest coffee grower, Brazil, was providing underlying support, dealers said. Brazil's coffee belt needs significant rain this month to trigger and sustain flowering for the crop set to be harvested in 2008.
London cocoa futures remained in their recent range and settled firmer after a choppy session on two-way speculative trade. December settled up 8 pounds to 959 pounds per tonne in light volume of 7,035 lots.
London cocoa edged up early, aided partly by the weakness of sterling against the dollar but gains were largely erased by midday as the currency trend reversed.
In the afternoon, cocoa held onto light gains well within its recent range, with some activity centred on the December-March spread. US soft commodities consultant Judith Ganes-Chase said on Thursday she saw some downside potential for cocoa prices in the near-term under pressure from the 2007/08 West African main crop.
Ganes-Chase said that while expectations were for an abundant 2007/08 West African main crop, output might not be as high as previously thought, and the impact of black pod disease after recent rainfall was hard to quantify. She gave no West African production forecasts.
London white sugar futures spent much of the session mixed in choppy trade hemmed within their narrow range, with any upside capped by a huge oversupply of the sweetener, primarily from leading producers Brazil and India. December settled down 60 cents to $274.40 per tonne.
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