SOFTS-Raw sugar falls from seven-month peak, arabica hits 16-month low

NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures on ICE fell on Thursday after hitting a seven-month high in the previous session on concerns over Indian supplies, while arabica coffee slid to the lowest price in 16 months.

The weakness of Brazil's real currency

helped to drive down prices of both sugar and coffee.

A weak real encourages selling of dollar-priced commodities in Brazil by raising returns in local currency terms.

SUGAR

* March raw sugar settled down 0.54 cent, or 2.7%, at 19.73 cents per lb after climbing to a seven-month peak of 20.44 cents on Wednesday.

* Dealers said the market was technically overbought after its recent strong advance, so the decline was not unexpected, while funds also appeared to be taking a breather after a recent buying spree.

* Weak oil prices and a rising dollar added pressure to sugar futures, dealers said.

* March white sugar fell $11.20, or 2.1%, at $533.40 a tonne.

* Indian mills have produced 2 million tonnes of sugar so far in the season that began on Oct. 1, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said, almost unchanged from a year earlier.

COFFEE

* March arabica coffee settled down 2.05 cents, or 1.3%, at $1.5635 per lb, having touched a 16-month low of $1.5405.

* Fitch Solutions said the market might have further to fall in the near term as global demand softens and supplies improve in top producer Brazil.

* The current weakness of the Brazilian real and Colombian peso will also continue to encourage U.S. dollar-denominated export sales, it said.

* Also weighing on coffee, ICE certified stocks were at 484,089 bags as of Nov. 16, well above a 23-year low of 382,695 bags set on Nov. 3. There were 584,688 bags pending grading.

* January robusta coffee rose $26, or 1.5%, at $1,818 a tonne.

COCOA

* March New York cocoa settled down $55, or 2.2%, to $2,447 a tonne.

* Above normal temperatures in Western Africa are unlikely to hurt cocoa plantations, which still have good soil moisture, forecaster Climate42 said on Thursday.

* March London cocoa fell 0.4% to 1,948 pounds a tonne. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira, Maytaal Angel and Nigel Hunt; Editing by Devika Syamnath, David Goodman and Shailesh Kuber)