NEW YORK/LONDON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Arabica coffee futures
on ICE weakened on Monday, slipping from the prior session's
2-1/2 month high, while cocoa and sugar prices also fell.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee settled down 0.9 cents, or
0.7%, at $1.233 per lb. The benchmark second position rose to a
peak of $1.2480 on Friday, its highest since mid-September.
* Dealers said rains over the next few days could aid the
outlook for crops in southern Brazil, although some of the
damage from the recent dry spell was likely to be irreversible.
* "Brazil's 2021 crop forecasts are being lowered just when
COVID-19 vaccines signal a future resurgence in demand," broker
Marex Spectron said in a report, noting it expected demand
growth to be above trend from the second quarter of 2021 and
lasting into 2022.
* March robusta coffee settled down $8, or 0.6%, at
$1,405 a tonne.
* Vietnam exported 70,000 tonnes of coffee in November, down
37.5% from a year earlier, government data released on Sunday
showed.
COCOA
* March New York cocoa settled down $27, or
1.0%, to $2,739 a tonne.
* Dealers said a strong start to the main crop in top grower
Ivory Coast remained a bearish influence although the low level
of exchange stocks continued to provide support.
* There are concerns, however, that recent below average
rains may curb production from February onwards.
* March London cocoa settled down 11 pounds, or
0.6%, to 1,858 pounds per tonne.
* Ivory Coast and Ghana are cancelling all cocoa
sustainability schemes run by U.S.-based Hershey in the
west African countries, accusing the chocolate maker of trying
to avoid paying a cocoa premium aimed at combating farmer
poverty.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar fell 0.31 cents, or 1.6%, to 14.51
cents per lb.
* Dealers said India was generally expected to announce a
programme to subside exports, possibly in late December, with
the volume potentially around five million tonnes.
* March white sugar fell $5.90, or 1.4%, to $398.80
a tonne.
(Reporting by Nigel Hunt, additional reporting by Jessica
Resnick-Ault; Editing by Ken Ferris, Pravin Char and Richard
Chang)