London sugar easier

London white sugar futures closed slightly lower on Thursday, weakened by speculative selling, traders said. Benchmark May concluded down $1.00 at $437.50 a tonne after moving between $433.50 and $442.30.
Second-month August settled off $1.70 at $433.80. Total volume was 5,391 lots.
"There is trade and speculative buying against selling by medium-sized speculators," one trader said.
Traders said the recent sell-off of futures had triggered physical business, including from the Middle East.
The trade was focused on how much of the new 2006/07 Brazilian cane crop would be allocated to sugar and how much to ethanol.
Sugar producing members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade bloc should embrace efficient growing methods and diversify into alcohol and power generation, experts said on Thursday.
Russian raw sugar imports fell 38.4 percent to 118,900 tonnes in January, compared with the same month last year, the Federal Customs Service (FCS) said on Thursday.
Syria's state-owned General Foreign Trade Organisation (GFTO) said on Thursday it had issued a tender to buy 26,000 tonnes of bagged white sugar, plus or minus 10 percent, for shipment between May 15 and June 15.
COCOA ENDS LOWER:
London cocoa futures hit a three-week high on Thursday but closed slightly weaker after origin selling from Ghana prevented follow-through from the previous session's rally, dealers said.
Benchmark May closed down 5 pounds at 904 pounds a tonne, in the middle of the day's 896 to 912 pound range, while front month March finished down 7 pounds at 886. Total volume was 25,057 lots.
"After yesterday's rally it's just consolidating," a trader said. "There's been some origin selling in the market today from Ghana, so that's probably managed to put a lid on the rally in the short term."
COFFEE STEADIES: Liffe robusta coffee futures closed little changed on Thursday after gains from speculative and trade buying were trimmed by New York losses, dealers said.
Benchmark May robusta ended unchanged at $1,177 a tonne in a volume of 4,183 lots after dealing between $1,189 and $1,171. Spot March fell $2 to $1,161. Total volume was 6,236 lots.