SOFTS-Robusta coffee recovers from 4-month low; sugar, cocoa also gain

LONDON, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Robusta coffee futures on the ICE exchange recovered on Monday from four-month lows hit in the prior session, with farmers in top grower Vietnam said to be holding back sales.

Sugar and cocoa also gained.

COFFEE

Robusta coffee LRCc2 rose 1.5% to $3,724 per metric ton by 1413 GMT, having hit its lowest since mid-August at $3,666 on Friday.

A Vietnam-based dealer said farmers were baulking at price bids from traders, even going so far as to buy back supplies for hoarding purposes.

ICE robusta coffee speculators cut their net long position by 2,907 lots to 9,664 lots as of Dec 16, data showed.

Indonesia and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) have signed a free trade agreement. Indonesia's top exports to the EAEU include robusta coffee and cocoa.

Arabica coffee KCc1 was up 0.8% to $3.4335 per lb, having hit a four-month low of $3.4055 on Friday.

Broker ADM ISI cited near perfect weather in top grower Brazil, adding that traders do not seem to see coffee below $3.60 as too cheap to sell.

COCOA

New York cocoa CCc1 rose 0.7% to $5,885 a ton, having lost 6.1% last week.

A total of 74,000 tons of cocoa were delivered to ports in top grower Ivory Coast between December 15 and December 21, down from 77,000 tons in the same week of the previous season.

The market is of the view that production in Ivory Coast will rise this season, but any temporary reductions in port arrivals could spook the bears, dealers said.

Broker StoneX cited rumours also that high temperatures may damage crops in No. 3 grower Ecuador.

London cocoa LCCc1 dipped 0.2% to 4,275 pounds a ton.

SUGAR

Raw sugar SBc1 rose 1.2% to 14.99 cents per lb, having hit a more than one-month low of 14.38 on Thursday.

Oil prices headed higher as the U.S. intercepted a tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Higher energy prices can tempt Brazilian mills to produce less sugar and more ethanol, a cane-based biofuel.

White sugar LSUc1 rose 0.2% to $426.40 per metric ton.