SOFTS-London cocoa sets three-month peak, white sugar also up

Updates with closing prices

LONDON, Jan 17 (Reuters) – London cocoa futures on ICE climbed to a three-month peak on Monday as the market awaited release of closely watched fourth-quarter grinding data for Europe and North America.

Raw sugar, arabica coffee and New York cocoa futures markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

COCOA

* March London cocoa LCCc1 ended 0.3% higher at 1,779 pounds a tonne after hitting a three-month peak of 1,790 pounds.

* Dealers said the grinding data covering the fourth quarter of 2021 should provide further evidence that demand is rebounding after dipping in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

* The European grind is due to be released on Wednesday and the North American grind on Thursday.

* Asia’s fourth-quarter cocoa grind rose 6.33% year on year to 231,309 tonnes, data from the Cocoa Association of Asia showed on Friday.

* Weather conditions last week in most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions were encouraging for the growth of the April to September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.

SUGAR

* March white sugar LSUc1 ended 1.1% higher at $508.30 a tonne after peaking at a one-month high of $508.40.

* Dealers noted the premium for white sugar against raw sugar has climbed recently and now stands at about $100 a tonne.

* The rise in the white premium could mean that a greater proportion of Indian exports will be a form of white sugar, broker Marex said in a note.

COFFEE

* March robusta coffee LRCc2 fell 0.4% to close at $2,218 a tonne.

* Dealers said speculators had been cutting long positions in robusta coffee with a pick-up in shipments from top robusta producer Vietnam helping to ease concerns about short-term supply tightness.

(Reporting by Nigel Hunt Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Goodman)

((nigel.hunt@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 7990 561421; Reuters Messaging: nigel.hunt.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net ))

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