ICE sugar, arabica coffee pare earlier gains, cocoa rises

NEW YORK/LONDON: ICE raw sugar futures fell on Monday, after earlier trading higher, as a global supply glut pressured upward momentum, while arabica coffee fell after touching a two-week high, and cocoa futures rose.

March raw sugar futures on ICE Futures US were down 0.18 cent, or 1 percent, to 18.06 cents per lb at 12:41 EST (1741 GMT).

The most-active May contract slid 0.04 cent, or 0.2 percent, to 18.10 cents a lb.

"At these prices, risks are more likely to be on the upside, rather than downside, and funds may want to start covering their shorts," Macquarie Capital analyst Kona Haque said in a research note.

A record speculative short position in ICE sugar meant the market was susceptible to short-covering rallies, dealers said. Speculators raised their net short positions in sugar contracts on ICE Futures US to record highs in the week to Feb. 19, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.

"The commitments report shows the funds just keep piling on the shorts and that helped give the market a mild boost" in the morning, said Michael McDougall, senior vice president at Newedge USA.

Abundant supplies, with top producer Brazil expected to see a bumper crop thanks to favorable weather, lent pressure to any upward momentum.

Front month March raw sugar on ICE slipped to level money with May , well below a peak of a premium of about 30 points last week, the highest since July 2012.

The March contract is due to expire on Thursday and the weakness of the spread might show reduced appetite for taking delivery, Nick Penney of brokers Sucden Financial said in a market update.

May white sugar on Liffe rose $0.50, or 0.1 percent, to $505.50 a tonne.

COFFEE SINKS

Arabica coffee futures on ICE fell after earlier trading higher.

Dealers said the market was underpinned by concerns about a severe outbreak of roya leaf rust disease in Central America although a favorable crop outlook in top grower Brazil should ensure adequate supplies.

"While the problems in Central America continue to be a serious threat for next season's production, positive production developments elsewhere are countering this," Macquarie's Haque said.

May arabica coffee futures on ICE dropped 1.1 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $1.426 per lb.

Earlier, ICE arabica reached $1.4445 a lb, the highest price since Feb. 13. During the past two weeks, the contract dipped to $1.3760, the lowest level for the second month since June 2010.

Like ICE raw sugar, ICE arabica futures were seen as susceptible to a short-covering rally, due to a record net short held by speculators.

"This market has been looking for a solid short-covering rally. I'm not convinced we have seen more than a small percentage of the covering we could expect," said Hector Galvan, a senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago.

May robusta coffee futures on Liffe fell $8, or 0.4 percent, to close at $2,079 a tonne.

Dealers pointed to a slowdown in robusta coffee exports from top producer Vietnam this month, although cumulative volumes for the first two months of this year are a marginal 1.5 percent below year-ago levels.

Cocoa futures were slightly higher as the market kept a close watch on the outlook for coming West Africa mid-crops.

A relentlessly harsh dry season across Ivory Coast's main growing regions is affecting bean quality and threatens to delay early harvesting of the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers and analysts said last week.

May cocoa futures on ICE rose $4, or 0.2 percent, to close at $2,143 per tonne, while May cocoa on Liffe settled up 9 pounds, or 0.6 percent, at 1,434 pounds a tonne.

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But the bombing of four mining trucks owned by Cerrejon, blamed on left-wing guerrillas, has added to a sense that a resolution might not be near, the trader said.

Also a government export ban on a mine owned by US miner Drummond, imposed because of an environmental investigation, prompted the company late last week to cut output by up to 50,000 tonnes a day after it ran out of space to stockpile coal.

API2 Coal swaps for 2014 delivery traded at $98.30, down $0.40 from Friday's close in response to a big fall in German power prices.

Baseload German power for 2014 delivery stood at 41.95 euros ($55.44) per megawatt hour, down from 42.68 euros at the close on Friday in view of a 10 percent fall in carbon prices.