LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE fell nearly 1% on Wednesday as inflation jitters pressured the wider financial markets and traders baulked at paying more than 20 cents per lb for the sweetener.
Cocoa recovered meanwhile.
Sugar
March raw sugar was down 0.7% to 19.77 at 1310 GMT.
Dealers said a lack of fresh fundamental news means many traders are sitting in the sidelines, with the market struggling to breach a technical 'double top' at 20.10.
They added data on cane and sugar production in Centre-South Brazil, covering the second half of October, will be released later this session.
A survey by S&P Global Platts had an average estimate for the Brazil production data of 711,200 tonnes, down 59% from a year earlier.
India's cabinet approved raising the price at which oil marketing companies buy ethanol from sugar mills by 1.3%, a minister said. The decision will help sugar mills divert cane juice for ethanol production.
The United States is on track for record sugar production in the 2021/22 season at over 9.33 million short tonnes, the US Department of Agriculture said.
December white sugar, which expires next Monday, fell 0.6% to $511.60 a tonne.
NY cocoa futures ease on expectations of large crops
Cocoa
March New York cocoa rose 1.1% to $2,491 a tonne after setting a three-month low of $2,433 on Monday.
The world's biggest chocolate maker Barry Callebaut said sales volumes increased by 4.6% in the year to Aug. 31 as pandemic-weary customers return to cafes and bakeries. [nL8N2S1184
The group also confirmed its target of average annual volume growth of 5%-7% in the three-year period to 2022/2023, and said it expected improving demand to lead the global cocoa market from surplus to balance in the current fiscal year.
March London cocoa rose 0.4% to 1,676 pounds per tonne.
Coffee
March arabica coffee was unchanged at $2.0865 per lb, having closed up 3.1% on Tuesday.
January robusta fell 0.3% to $2,219 a tonne, having closed up 2.8% on Tuesday.
Top robusta producer Vietnam's coffee exports in October fell 1.1% from September, government data showed. Coffee shipments in the first 10 months of this year fell 4.2% from a year earlier.