Coffee lower

Arabica coffee futures closed lower, after a violent but brief leap to a one-month high on Wednesday, succumbing to pressure from the firmer US dollar. Raw sugar recaptured early losses and moved to higher ground, while cocoa dropped to three-month lows.
May arabicas on ICE dropped 0.60 cent to finish at $1.8475 per lb, after moving in a wide range of 11.75 cents and hitting a one-month high of $1.9045. Benchmark Liffe May robusta coffee futures dropped $34, or 1.7 percent, to settle at $1,991 per tonne. "It's a big technical breakout that stimulated short- covering," said one New York coffee dealer. "The market was just pushed higher and stops were elected above it."
The key breakout was when May arabica hit $188.45, he said. Coffee futures were down earlier, pressured by broad-based liquidation after the US central bank lowered hopes of further economic stimulus and the rallying greenback. "I think some big spec selling hit with the higher dollar, but I also think the market is short-bought in cash so we got it going the other way," said Jack Scoville, a vice president for The Price Group in Chicago.
Total arabica volume was heavy at nearly 49,000 lots, the highest since February 13, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed. Arabica futures dropped more than 40 percent to the recent 17-month low of $1.7445 from highs above $3 per lb in May 2011. The market has since moved sideways without clear direction.
Cocoa futures on ICE fell, with May closing down $60, or 2.8 percent, at $2,083 a tonne, the lowest since January 6. London May cocoa futures ended down 21 pounds, or 1.5 percent, at 1,398 pounds (US $2,200) per tonne. The total bags of cocoa reported by ICE Futures US inched down to 5,484,400 bags by April 3 from the record high set the previous day of 5,485,000 bags, according to ICE's records which date back to 1986. "Despite bullish fundamental reports, the market is not listening. That suggests that there is plenty of supply," a London-based dealer said, referring to a report showing a pick-up of cocoa buying in No 2 producer Ghana.
Raw sugar prices changed direction and climbed on technical buying by speculators who piled into the market after the spot May contract held near 24.10 cents, dealers said. May raw sugar on ICE climbed 0.17 cent to finish at 24.42 cents per lb, while London May white sugar futures rose $3.90, or 0.6 percent, to end at $638.50 per tonne.