* Raw sugar futures were lower in early trade on Thursday, weighed by general losses in commodity markets linked to a setback in global equity markets.
* ICE March raw sugar SBc1 was down 0.05 cent or 0.2 percent at 31.13 cents a lb at 0935 GMT, while London March white sugar LSUH1 rose $0.40 to $776.00 per tonne.
* New York sugar SBc1 remains technically neutral as it is still rangebound between 30.35 cents and 31.58 cents per lb, though the bias is to the downside, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. [ID:nL3E7CK0DT]
* The ratings agency Fitch said on Thursday that 2011 will be a recovery phase for the Indian sugar sector, and expects the sector to have a stable outlook as Indian sugar companies benefit from positive sugar margins as a result of lower sugarcane costs and stable sugar prices. [ID:nWLA3238]
* Australia, the third-largest sugar exporter, faces a 60 to 70 percent chance of above average rainfall across the northern half of Queensland, a key sugar area, the Bureau of Meteorology
said on Thursday. The area has already been badly hit by floods this month, and the excessive rain has left about 20 percent, or 5.7 million tonnes, of sugarcane unharvested [ID:nL3E7CJ1YG]
* Mexico, another important sugar producer, has so far produced 1.33 million tonnes of sugar in the 2010/11 harvest, 33 percent more than in the same period last year, the national sugar industry chamber said on Wednesday. [ID:nN19257378]
COFFEE
* Arabica coffee futures on ICE eased, weighed partly by losses in global equities and other commodity markets.
* ICE March arabicas KCc1 fell 0.15 cents or 0.1 percent to $2.3235 per lb. The front month contract rose to its highest level since June 1997 last week but has remained in a range since, which could lead some funds to sell long positions.
* New York May coffee KCc2 will extend its loss to $2.2885 per lb as the fall on Wednesday confirmed a downtrend development, according to Reuters analyst Tao. [ID:nL3E7CK0F2]
* Liffe robusta coffee futures LRCc2 were off $12 or 0.6 percent at $2,107 a tonne after last week hitting $2,185, the highest level for the benchmark second month since Sept. 2008.
* Coffee exports from washed arabica producers Central America, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic jumped nearly 40 percent year-on-year in December, a Guatemalan
growers' group said on Wednesday. [ID:nN19262670]
COCOA
* Cocoa futures on ICE were mostly higher in early trade as the political crisis in top grower Ivory Coast spurred concerns about possible supply disruptions.
* Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said the latest African Union efforts to mediate Ivory Coast's disputed election failed on Wednesday, and Laurent Gbagbo, who is widely held to have
lost the election but remains in power, rejected him as mediator. [ID:nLDE70I27I]
* ICE May cocoa CCc2 rose $18 to $3,133 a tonne, the highest level for the second month contract since the beginning of December.
* A bullish target at $3,136 per tonne has been shifted up to $3,239 a tonne for New York cocoa CCc2 as a wave (C) has not completed, said Reuters market analyst Wang Tao. [ID:nL3E7CK0HW]
* London's May cocoa contract LCCK1 rose 12 pounds or 0.6 percent to 2,054 pounds per tonne.
* North American fourth-quarter 2010 grind data, a key indicator of cocoa demand, is due at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT) and analysts expect an increase of 2 to 4 percent from a year ago.
* Brazil's cumulative cocoa arrivals from the start of the May/April 2010/11 season were 18 percent higher than the quantity delivered by the same time last year, data showed.
Brazil, the sixth largest cocoa grower, was No. 2 until the 1990s, when a fungal disease devastated its plantations and slashed output by more than half. [ID:nN19239600]
OTHER MARKETS
* Asian equities were set to post their worst daily performance in more than five months on Thursday, weighed down by sectors such as materials, technology and energy. [MKTS/GLOB]
* The euro slipped against the dollar on Thursday as weaker global shares stifled appetite for higher-risk currencies, prompting investors to book profits on the single European
currency's rally to a two-month high on Wednesday. [FRX/]
* U.S. crude fell but stayed above $90 a barrel on Thursday ahead of inventory data that is expected to show a decline in crude stocks, while worries about China stepping up efforts to
fight inflation persisted. Tighter monetary policy, the likely inflation fix, could hurt consumer appetite for oil in the world's second-largest oil consumer. [O/R]
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