LONDON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Raw sugar futures on ICE were weaker on Monday, drifting towards a recent three-and-a-half-week low, while arabica coffee and cocoa prices also fell.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SBc1 fell 1% to 18.04 cents per lb by 1233 GMT.
* Dealers said funds have been scaling back long positions against the backdrop of improving outlooks for production in India and Thailand.
* Speculators reduced their bullish bets in raw sugar futures on ICE U.S. in the week to Feb. 1, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Friday.
* There appears to be solid support, however, around last week’s low of 17.77 cents, they added.
* Broker Marex, in a weekly update, said the market was underpinned by several factors including uncertainty about this year’s crop in Centre-South Brazil and low stocks.
* “These residual bullish stories are not strong enough to pull the price up to the old highs, but are strong enough to prevent prices falling much further,” the broker said.
* March white sugar LSUc1 fell 1% to $493.40 a tonne.
COCOA
* May New York cocoa CCc2 fell 0.9% to $2,700 a tonne.
* Dealers said noted there continued to be uncertainty about whether the modest rebound in global grindings in the fourth quarter of 2021 would be sustained.
* Ivory Coast’s cocoa grind fell 3.6% year-on-year in January to 53,000 tonnes, data from the exporters’ association GEPEX showed on Monday.
* May London cocoa LCCc2 fell 0.55% to 1,806 pounds a tonne.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee KCc1 was down 0.3% at $2.4105 per lb.
* Dealers said recent rains in Brazil had improved the outlook for this year’s crop in the world’s top producer.
* May robusta coffee LRCc2 rose 0.45% to $2,223 a tonne.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
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