Sugar eases, robusta coffee dips

Raw sugar futures fell on Wednesday, extending the prior session's volatile shift lower on the strong US dollar and market talk of Indian sales, while robusta coffee dipped as new supplies from top grower Vietnam came on stream.
Cocoa futures also fell. US soft commodity markets will shut for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
Raw sugar futures settled down 0.09 cent, or 0.6 percent, at 14.91 cents per lb, drifting further away from Tuesday's 10-month high of 15.78 cents.
Dealers talked of sales of at least 100,000 tonnes of Indian raw sugar, possibly destined for Bangladesh and the Etihad refinery in Iraq, triggering Tuesday's sell-off, but there was no immediate confirmation.
"I think today's fall is due to a mixture of the stronger dollar, weaker Brazilian real and the likelihood of more Indian sales next week," a senior London-based broker said.
James Liddiard, senior vice president at Agrilion consultancy in New York, said sell-stops were triggered below 14.93 cents.
"The fundamental picture has not changed over the last two days and so further buying support would still be expected scale-down with more solid technical support coming in at 14.47 followed by 14.34/13.36 and then 14.22," Liddiard said.
March white sugar settled down $2.5, or 0.6 percent, at $402.80 per tonne.
Robusta coffee futures eased, with sales by Vietnamese farmers from the new crop progressing slowly due to their disappointment with prices at near two-year lows.
January robusta futures settled down $18, or 1.2 percent, at $1,532 per tonne, remaining near the November 18 two-year low of $1,494 per tonne. March arabicas settled up 1.05 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $1.2555 per lb.
Cocoa futures eased in technically driven dealings, as dealers turned their attention to harmattan winds in West Africa, expected in December, with main harvest weather considered benign.
London March cocoa settled down 26 pounds, or 1.1 percent, at 2,262 pounds per tonne, below last week's 4-1/2-year peak at 2,317. New York March cocoa settled down $34, or 1 percent, at $3,304 per tonne.