LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE were lower on Friday with the focus on the expiry of the March contract later in the day while cocoa prices fell sharply.
Sugar
Raw sugar futures lost 0.8% to 19.54 cents per lb by 1233 GMT.
Dealers said the premium for the March contract to May had fallen sharply to around 0.72 cents from as high as 1.61 cents earlier this week ahead of its expiry on Friday.
They noted a delivery of more than one million tons was still possible against the March contract although there was talk a major trade house could have scaled back the amount of sugar it planned to receive.
White sugar fell 0.4% at $537.70 a metric ton.
The market remained underpinned by a drop in production in India this season.
Indian mills produced 21.98 million metric tons of sugar between October 1 and February 28, down 14% from the previous year, on lower output from key producing states Maharashtra and Karnataka, a leading industry body said on Friday.
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Cocoa
New York cocoa fell 2.6% to $9,013 a ton.
BMI said in a note that there were concerns that demand was easing in the face of elevated prices. Prices have tripled in the last two years.
The International Cocoa Organization is expected to issue its first forecast for the global cocoa balance in the current 2024/25 season later on Friday.
London cocoa fell 2.5% to 7,268 pounds a ton.
Coffee
Arabica coffee was up 0.6% at $3.7580 per lb.
Dealers said the market appeared to have stabilised after tumbling from a record peak of $4.2995, set on Feb. 11, to a low of $3.6630 on Wednesday.
Robusta coffee was up a marginal 0.02% at $5,377 a ton.
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