SOFTS-Robusta coffee slides as storm fears ease, sugar falls sharply

NEW YORK, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Robusta coffee futures on the ICE exchange slid on Monday as fears over damage from another tropical storm in top grower Vietnam eased, while sugar prices fell sharply.

COFFEE

Robusta coffee LRCc1 settled down $93, or 2%, at $4,472 a metric ton.

The contract gained 6.4% two weeks ago amid rains, floods and landslides in Vietnam, but rose only 1% last week.

"The Central Highlands (coffee region) just saw 1–2 days of drier weather, prompting farmers to return to the fields and resume intermittent harvesting," noted a Vietnam-based dealer.

This week, tropical storm Koto is expected to linger near southern Vietnam, with minimal impact on Central Highlands coffee regions, according to LSEG Weather Research.

Arabica coffee KCc2 fell 0.4% to $3.797 per lb, having gained 3.2% last week.

SUGAR

Raw sugar SBc1 settled down 0.45 cent, or 3%, at 14.76 cents per lb.

The market erased the 2.7% gain it made last week amid talk of Thai hedging and a weak technical picture as support at 14.85 was broken, dealers said.

Sugar output in Brazil's key Center-South region grew 8.7% to 983,000 tons in the first half of November, said industry group UNICA.

The UNICA data also showed the amount of cane that Brazilian mills in the region allocated to sugar production fell to 38.6%, with around 61% of the raw material directed to making ethanol fuel.

White sugar LSUc1 fell 3.3% to $421.10 per ton.

COCOA

London cocoa LCCc2 settled up 24 pounds, or 0.6%, to 4,093 pounds per ton, having hit a near two-year low of 3,650 pounds last Tuesday.

London cocoa speculators increased their net short position by 3,555 lots to 26,303 lots as of November 25, exchange data showed.

Cocoa supply availability is improving. About 100,000 tons were delivered between November 24 and November 30 to top grower Ivory Coast's ports, up from 92,000 tons in the same week of the previous season, exporters estimated.

The International Cocoa Organization on Friday estimated there was a global cocoa surplus of 49,000 tons in the 2024/25 season (October/September).

New York cocoa CCc2 rose 0.9% to $5,556 a ton.