Sugar and coffee and cocoa lower

Sugar, coffee and cocoa markets trading in both New York and London eased on Wednesday, with abundant supplies pressuring sugar and arabica, while cocoa followed the lower trend in other commodities, with position rolling on ICE boosting volume. The Thomson Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global benchmark for commodities made up of 19 markets, dropped nearly 2 percent before paring losses. The US dollar climbed against a basket of six major currencies.
The strong greenback can attract sellers holding other currencies. "The macro put the charts on the defensive here today, coffee, cocoa and sugar. It took the wind out of their sails," said one US softs dealers. Raw sugar futures on ICE dropped for the third straight day, moving closer to last month's 2-1/2-year low at 18.06 cents per lb, basis the spot contract. The contract extended its losses after open interest rose to a three-year high exceeding 841,000 contracts in the previous session in a falling market. March raw sugar futures on ICE settled down 0.37 cent, or 2 percent, at 18.19 cents a lb. Total volume was heavy at around 156,000 lots, more than double the 250-day average, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed. The 50-day moving average on the March contract dipped just below 19 cents a lb this week.
March white sugar on Liffe fell $4.10, or 0.8 percent, to close at $492.70 a tonne. Robusta coffee futures on Liffe were weak for most of the session, after soaring to the highest intraday level in more than three months on strong demand on Tuesday. The March contract hit resistance at $2,085 per tonne on Tuesday, the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level. May robusta coffee futures on Liffe inched up $1 to settle at $2,072 a tonne, turning up a shade in late dealings. The contract climbed to a peak of $2,088 on Tuesday, the highest level for the benchmark second month since October 22, 2012. March arabica coffee futures on ICE ended down 1.95 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $1.4210 per lb. Preliminary data pegged total volume at a heavy 38,287 lots, up more than 70 percent from the 250-day average.
Total open interest rose by 3,155 lots to 162,774 lots in the previous session, the highest since August 2010, ICE data showed. March futures on ICE fell $23, or 1 percent, to close at $2,223 a tonne. May cocoa on Liffe fell 10 pounds, or 0.7 percent, to finish at 1,458 pounds a tonne.