Yahoo Finance SOFTS-Raw sugar gains nearly 3% on the week, cocoa slips off peaks
(Adds comments, weekly moves, closing prices)
NEW YORK, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures on ICE closed up on Friday and gained nearly 3% on the week despite record sugar production in top grower Brazil, while cocoa edged further away from recent multi-year peaks.
SUGAR
* October raw sugar settled up 0.38 cents, or 1.6%, at 24.33 cents per lb. The contract gained 2.7% in the week.
* Dealers said the market is in consolidation around the historically high levels.
* Raw sugar is seen ending the year around current levels but marking a sharp increase over end-December 2022 as the global market looks set to record a second year of supply deficits, a Reuters poll of 11 traders and analysts showed.
* Raw sugar demand fell 20% in the first half, but refiners are set to go back to buying to replenish stocks, Czarnikow said, which helps to put a floor on the market.
* Singapore-listed agribusiness Wilmar reported a 50% slump in its first-half core net profit due to slowing Chinese sales.
* October white sugar settled up $6.10, or 0.9%, at $697.10 a ton.
COCOA
* December London cocoa settled up 24 pounds, or 0.9%, to 2,637 pounds per ton, after peaking at 2,759 pounds on Monday — its highest since 1977.
* Improved crop weather in top producer Ivory Coast has prompted some profit-taking in cocoa, along with concerns that global economic woes could curb demand, but the market remains sustained by a tight near-term supply.
* December New York cocoa ended little changed at $3,357 a metric ton, having hit its highest in more than a decade on Monday at $3,618.
COFFEE
* December arabica coffee settled down 1.95 cents, or 1.2%, at $1.577 per lb.
* ICE certified stocks fell to an eight-month low on Thursday.
* Brazilian coffee farmers had sold 41% of their 2023/24 crop by early August, consultancy Safras & Mercado said, lagging the long-term average for the period of 46%.
* November robusta coffee fell $17, or 0.7%, at $2,517 a ton. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Maytaal Angel, Editing by Louise Heavens, David Evans and Sandra Maler)
