ICE cocoa eases

ICE cocoa eased from Monday's 2-1/2-year high on profit-taking, while arabica coffee edged higher on renewed speculator buying and lingering worry over the extent of drought damage to crops in top grower Brazil. Raw sugar on ICE Futures US inched higher on Tuesday after choppy trading, pinned between subdued demand and mounting expectations of reduced supplies.
Trading volumes were below average across the softs markets, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed. The weather-driven rally that has propelled coffee prices 70 percent higher so far this year has lost momentum in recent sessions on an improved outlook for much-needed rain in Brazil.
Benchmark May arabica coffee futures on ICE edged up 0.15 cent, or 0.08 percent, to close at $1.9155 per lb, after touching a two-year peak of $2.0975 last week. "Coffee is up on light speculator buying after yesterday's selloff," said Hector Galvan, senior softs broker at RJO Futures in Chicago. "People are waiting to see any big changes in the weather."
May robusta coffee futures dropped $24, or 1.1 percent, to close at $2,135 a tonne, sliding further from last week's 17-month high of $2,218. In cocoa, May ICE futures slipped $16, or 0.5 percent, to settle at $3,014. Front-month prices hit a 2-1/2-year high of $3,039 on Monday. "We can't push above yesterday's high, and so we're seeing some profit-taking," said RJO's Galvan.
Cocoa prices have soared on expectations of a second straight deficit year, bolstered in recent weeks by the growing likelihood of an El Nino weather event that could tighten world supplies. Even so, demand for mid-crop beans from exporters in top grower Ivory Coast is expected to be weak as shippers said high stocks would prevent them from buying. July cocoa futures on Liffe ended unchanged at 1,893 pounds a tonne after currency-related buying helped lift prices to a contract high of 1,896, the strongest level for the second-month since September 2011.
The benchmark May ICE contract edged up 0.09 cent, or 0.5 percent, to finish at 17.14 cents a lb. The front-month ICE raw sugar contract hit a four-month peak of 18.47 cents hit earlier this month as dry weather in Brazil stoked expectations of reduced supplies in the world's top producer. Liffe May white sugar futures finished up $2.60, or 0.6 percent, at $456.10 per tonne.