LONDON: Robusta coffee futures on ICE fell on Tuesday to touch their lowest in nearly 2-1/2 months, while London cocoa prices slipped as the British pound steadied.
COFFEE
* March robusta coffee was down $10, or 0.7 percent, at $1,538 a tonne by 1144 GMT, after earlier falling to $1,535 a tonne, its lowest since early October.
* Prices remained under pressure from expectations for ample supplies from top grower Vietnam, which is in the midst of harvesting a large crop. One European dealer estimated that about 60 percent of the crop has been harvested so far.
* "We've got the main harvest looming over us," the dealer said. "There has been a slight reduction in numbers but nothing substantial. It's still a very decent-sized crop and the quality is very good."
* Market participants also pointed to a lack of buying interest by roasters, which was further weighing on the market.
* "The industry are fairly well covered and they are not really looking to buy more right now," the dealer said.
* March arabica coffee fell 0.40 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $1.0475 per lb.
* Speculators raised their bearish stance in coffee on ICE Futures US in the week to Dec. 4, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Monday.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar fell 0.01 cents, or 0.1 percent, to 12.71 cents per lb.
* Market participants were awaiting cane crush data for the second half of November from Brazil's UNICA, due out at 1200 GMT on Tuesday.
* An S&P Platts survey of analysts forecast the crush at 14 million tonnes, with 31 percent of cane channelled to sugar. Production of the sweetener was seen at 515,000 tonnes.
* March white sugar fell $0.50, or 0.2 percent, to $342.50 a tonne.
* French sugar group Tereos plunged to a first-half loss of almost 100 million euros on Tuesday, hit by a steep fall in sugar prices. Its bond yields surged to all-time highs.
COCOA
* March London cocoa fell 21 pounds, or 1.3 percent, to 1,617 pounds a tonne, weighed by a firmer British pound on Tuesday.
* Prices rose to their highest since Nov. 19 in the prior session as sterling hit a 20-month low after Prime Minister Theresa May pulled a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal with the European Union.
* March New York cocoa was down $10, or 0.5 percent, at $2,196 a tonne.
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