NY sugar rises to a 1-month high, coffee, cocoa up

Feb 21 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures climbed to a one-month peak early
Tuesday after the Presidents Day holiday weekend in the United States.
U.S. cocoa and arabica coffee futures were quietly higher.
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8:44 AM LAST NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
TRADE CHNG CHNG VOL
Sugar MAR 25.07 0.45 1.8% 24.65 25.15 11,873
Sugar MAY 24.16 0.39 1.6% 23.81 24.24 20,979
Cocoa MAR 2,385 -4 -0.2% 2,373 2,412 7
Cocoa MAY 2,364 19 0.8% 2,345 2,384 2,443
Coffee MAR 201.05 1 0.5% 199.00 202.75 409
Coffee MAY 202.70 0.35 0.2% 200.40 205.00 3,494

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG
ICE SUGAR 52,177 103,854 87,358
ICE COCOA 3,428 25,495 18,916
ICE COFFEE 5,479 24,788 19,622

* Raw sugar futures for March rose 0.45 cent to 25.07 cents a lb in volume of 11,873 lots,
trading in a range of 24.65 to 25.15. May rose 0.39 cent to
24.16 cents a lb.
* Cocoa futures for March fell $4 to $2,385 a tonne in volume of 7 lots, trading in a
range of $2,373 to $2,412. May rose $19 to $2,364 a tonne.
* Arabica coffee futures for March rose 1.00 cent to $2.0105 a lb in volume of 409 lots,
trading in a range of $1.9900 to $2.0275. May rose 0.35 cent to
$2.0270 a lb.
MARKET NEWS
* Thomson Reuters analyst Wang Tao's outlook for New York soft commodities:
raw sugar is seen rising to 24.98 cents per lb, coffee to rebound to $2.0820/lb,
and cocoa to revisit the high of $2,420/tonne.
* Robusta coffee futures eased on Tuesday after the premium on front-month
robustas collapsed in the previous session and the contract reverted to a
discount against future dated contracts. For the latest softs wrap, please click
on:

FUNDAMENTALS
* ICE certified arabica stocks sink by 86,631 bags to 1,482,571 bags on Feb.
17, with a heavy 58,720 bags pending grading - ICE data.
* ICE arabica coffee futures pierced a $2 per lb floor this week for the
first time in more than a year as dealers eyed a huge harvest in top grower
Brazil and speculators pushed prices lower, but farmers show no signs of
selling, confident prices will return higher.
* Speculators switched to a net long position on robusta coffee futures and
options on Liffe in the week to Feb. 14 and moved to a net short on cocoa -
exchange data.
* The International Sugar Organization on Monday increased its forecast for
a projected global sugar surplus in 2011/12 to 5.17 million tonnes, up from a
forecast of 4.46 million issued in its previous quarterly update.

* Cocoa output from top supplier Ivory Coast is running about 8 percent
below last year and could lag further in coming weeks after a stretch of dry,
windy weather hindered growing operations - exporters.
* Rains picked up in Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing regions last week,
lifting hopes for healthier production volumes during the April-to-September
midcrop - farmers, analysts said on Monday.
* Cocoa farmgate prices in top grower Ivory Coast fell last week as quality
dropped alongside volumes at the tail end of the main crop - farmers, buyers.

ECONOMY
* No major U.S. economic data due.

MARKETS
* European shares eased on worries over growth in the wake of a long-awaited
agreement on a second bailout for debt-ridden Greece. The euro gained ground.

* Gold edged up on the euro's coattails.
* Crude oil was firmer amid supply disruptions ranging from Iran to Sudan to
the North Sea.

(Reporting by Marcy Nicholson)