Raw sugar futures reversed course and settled lower on profit-taking after hitting a 3-1/2-month high for a second straight day on Wednesday, while arabica coffee lurched up on late-day buying. Cocoa futures closed higher along with other commodities as the market awaited selling from the world's second biggest grower, Ghana.
Sugar futures reversed early gains on investor and day-trader sales, a day after the market surged on lower-than-expected crush data in top grower Brazil as dealers expressed concerns over a slow start to the harvest in the main center-south growing region. ICE October raw sugar futures eased 0.09 cent to close at 26.92 cents a lb, having earlier touched a 3-1/2-month high basis second-month of 27.30 cents.
ICE arabica coffee futures also reversed early gains in thin volume, as dealers took profits after the rally induced by reports that frost had reached at least two minor coffee regions in top grower Brazil's Parana state on Tuesday, ran out of steam. ICE September arabica coffee reversed to close up 1.80 cents at $2.6070 per lb. ICE September cocoa jumped $96, or 3.2 percent, to close at $3,119 per tonne.