Soft commodity futures careened lower Friday on combined profit-taking and investor liquidation, although cocoa surged early to a 32-year high due to the virtual civil war in top producer Ivory Coast. Sugar futures were hit hard and coffee was mixed, but the volume of business in the sell-off was low across the board.
New York's May cocoa contract fell $76 to settle at $3,657 per tonne, having posted a new 32-year intra-day peak at $3,775. New York's May raw sugar contract dropped 1.26 cents to trade at 29.33 cents per lb. ICE's May arabica coffee futures fell 0.30 cent to trade at $2.7445 per lb.