London sugar down

London benchmark May sugar futures closed easier and near 10-day lows on Friday on fund and trade sales, dragged lower by selling in New York, traders said.
Some traders said the latest global sugar balance figures from the Paris-based brokerage J. Kingsman, which showed a smaller 2005/06 deficit than previously seen, could have weighed on white sugar futures.
May settled down $6.70 or 1.45 percent at $456.8 per tonne in volume of 6,689 lots, after moving from $465.0 to $451.5.
August finished down $8.20 or 1.77 percent in volume of 7,456 lots, having traded from $464.5 to $450.0.
Traders said the market had to adjust lower because of a lack of physical business.
"The market is too high. There is no physical offtake. It has to come down to reach a level of equilibrium that will bring in physical buyers," one trader said.
COFFEE UP: Liffe robusta coffee futures closed higher on Friday, supported by trade buying in an otherwise quiet market as traders awaited the release of official Brazilian crop estimates, dealers said.
Benchmark May robusta ended up $11 at $1,136 a tonne while July rose $8 to $1,149 a tonne.
"London coffee brought itself up after some Japanese trade house buying this morning," a trader said.
He said the market overall was quiet but he also noted some trade buying in the September contract and some scale down buying in July by speculators.
"Coffee is waiting for the Brazilian crop levels," he said.
Brazilian coffee officials release the second estimate for the 2006/07 (July/June) crop on Friday. In December, Brazilian crop officials projected the 2006/07 harvest between 40.4 million and 43.6 million bags, higher than the 32.9 million bags of the 2005/06 season.
Traders did not expect any major reaction to the figures if they were lower than expected, because the market was already anticipating this outcome.
COCOA HIGHER:
London cocoa futures closed slightly higher on Friday in quiet trade dominated by options related business, traders said.
Front-month May closed up four pounds at 914 pounds a tonne while the July contract finished up four pounds at 919 pounds a tonne.
Total volume was light at 2,731 lots.
The May contract has traded between 929 and 890 pounds since mid-March.
Trade had been subdued this week because mid-crops that had started to emerge from Ivory Coast and other West African producers were not yet in full flow.