Cocoa futures dipped to close lower on Thursday, as dealers locked in gains from this week's four-month highs while attention remained on potential supply risks due to a political impasse in top grower Ivory Coast. Sugar futures closed the day lower, pressured by small investor sales while dealers remained uncertain over how much sugar India will export to help relieve a shortfall before Brazil's next harvest in 2011. Coffee settled mixed.
Cocoa prices reversed early gains to settle lower, as the knee-jerk reaction which triggered prices to rise to a four-month high of $3,140 per tonne, basis the ICE March contract on Tuesday on political tensions in top producer Ivory Coast lost momentum. March cocoa futures on ICE dropped $25 to finish at $3,010 per tonne, on hedge selling and two-sided investor dealings.
Tens of thousands of tonnes of cocoa intended for world markets were held up in Ivory Coast as a post-election power struggle threatened the West African nation's economic lifeline. ICE March raw sugar futures eased 0.27 cent to finish at 28.71 cents per lb. Total volume was around 42,000 lots, the lowest since July 21, preliminary Thomson Reuters data showed. ICE March arabicas inched down 0.10 cent to finish at $2.0455 per lb, in an inside day.