London coffee, cocoa and sugar higher

London robusta coffee ended firmer on Wednesday, well off the day's lows with the market showing signs of resuming its advance after absorbing a wave of profit-taking, dealers said.
Cocoa finished in positive territory, edging up towards a five-year peak set earlier this week after also running into profit-taking while white sugar rebounded from early losses to end higher, aided by gains in the crude oil market.
"You are going to get these bouts of profit-taking. Technically they (soft commodities) seem overbought and that prompts some of these breather spells for a day or two before we go galloping higher again," one dealer said.
May robusta coffee ended $22 up at $2,774 a tonne, well above the day's low of $2,711. The contract peaked at $2,813 on Friday, the highest level for the second month since July 1995.
Coffee, cocoa and white sugar prices have risen sharply this year as investment funds poured money into soft commodities. Dealers said the coffee market had been overdue for a downside technical correction. "It only takes a day or two to correct itself and then it is game on again," one dealer said.
Key robusta producer Indonesia expects this year's coffee output to be marginally higher at 687,450 tonnes, up from 686,763 tonnes last year. Cocoa futures ended higher, boosted partly by industry buying and a slowdown in producer sales. May ended up 15 pounds at 1,422 pounds a tonne.
The contract rose to a peak of 1,450 pounds a tonne on Tuesday, a five-year high for the second month, before slipping back to a low of 1,390 pounds on Wednesday.
"The impetus is still towards higher prices. Buy dips in bull markets people say and maybe that is the thing to do," one dealer said. White sugar futures also resumed their recent advance, which saw prices hit a 15-month peak earlier this week and then fall as part of Tuesday's broad-based drop in commodity markets. May whites ended up $1.60 at $386.10. The contract rose to $400.00 a tonne early on Tuesday, a 15-month high for the front month, before falling sharply.
Dealers said the rise in prices had largely dried up demand for sugar in the physical market. "The market needs to go down further to be able to do some trade in the physicals. So far it is too expensive," one sugar dealer said.