LONDON: London cocoa futures steadied on Wednesday after equalling the previous session's eight-week peak, driven by a downward revision in a Ghanaian crop estimate.
Raw sugar futures firmed as perceptions about a record May delivery turned bullish, while arabica coffee dipped in light, choppy, technically driven dealings.
Cocoa rallied on Tuesday after senior government sources in Ghana, the world's second-biggest cocoa grower, said the country's 2014/15 output would be no more than 700,000 tonnes, down from the previous estimate of 850,000 tonnes.
"There is always the risk that the market could give back some ground. It's a difficult call," one London-based cocoa futures broker said.
July New York cocoa traded up $2, or 0.1 percent, at $2,945 a tonne at 1324 GMT.
London July cocoa traded down 1 pound, or 0.05 percent, at 2,021 pounds a tonne after rising to 2,028 pounds, equalling Tuesday's highest level for the second position since March 9.
The sources also said that Ghana cocoa industry regulator Cocobod purchased 559,169 tonnes in the first 28 weeks of the season, down sharply from a year earlier.
The broker noted that high volatility in sterling before the May 7 British election could affect trade in pound-denominated London cocoa futures.
Raw sugar futures firmed, buoyed by talk that vessels have been nominated for a large amount of the record May sugar delivery.
Robin Shaw, analyst with broker Marex Spectron, said dealers' attention would soon shift to the outlook for the monsoon in India, the No.2 sugar producer behind Brazil.
July raw sugar futures traded up 0.15 cent, or 1.2 percent, at 12.90 cents a lb.
"In the short term it seems the funds are still in buy mode and perhaps on return from the New York sugar dinner (an industry event later this month) the market will have a clearer perspective on whether they will actually go long," said Thomas Kujawa, co-head of the softs desk at Sucden Financial Sugar.
August white sugar futures were up $3.20, or 0.9 percent, at $375.30 a tonne.
Arabica coffee futures dipped in light, volatile trading, with the downside limited by a softer dollar.
July arabica was down 1.35 cents, or 1 percent, at $1.3230 per lb, while July robusta coffee slipped by $12, or 0.7 percent, to $1,766 a tonne.
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