NY sugar and coffee finish firm, cocoa dips lower

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Raw sugar closed up more than 2
percent on Monday, getting a lift from short-covering, while
arabica coffee finished up 1.3 percent after a choppy session
dominated by position rolling out of the March contract.
U.S. cocoa settled weaker, drawing pressure from the strong
dollar and heavy March/May spreading.

2:00 PM SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
CHNG CHNG VOL
Sugar MAR 24.5 0.56 2.3% 23.94 24.59 47,088
Sugar MAY 23.74 0.49 2.1% 23.24 23.79 40,800
Cocoa MAR 2263 -37 -1.6% 2,237 2,332 13,415
Cocoa MAY 2290 -37 -1.6% 2,266 2,359 10,235
Coffee MAR 218.8 2.85 1.3% 213.05 219.80 12,548
Coffee MAY 221.7 2.8 1.3% 216.10 222.60 7,596

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG
ICE SUGAR 131,965 80,025 89,590
ICE COCOA 30,287 17,230 18,260
ICE COFFEE 25,802 16,217 19,357

SUGAR
* Key March raw sugar futures rose 0.56 cent, or 2.3
percent, to finish at 24.50 cents a lb.
* Market springs up on investor short-covering - brokers.
* Country Hedging Inc analyst Sterling Smith said friendly
technical outlook buoying market.
* But March contract still well short of major resistance at
25 cents.
* Large supplies from India, world's No. 2 producer, seen
keeping sugar gains capped.

COFFEE
* Key March arabica coffee climbed 2.85 cents, or 1.3
percent, to close at $2.1880 per lb.
* Market was choppy in sideways dealings due to traders
rolling out of March ahead of its first notice day Feb. 21 and
into May - traders.
* Light May/July spreading was also noted.
* "Looks like it's trying to do some consolidation after
being pounded to the downside." - Drew Geraghty, commodity
broker at ICAP North America in New Jersey.
* "The specs have been good sellers of coffee over the last
two weeks. It look like they've lost that downside pressure for
the moment."
* Total open interest climbed by 1,764 lots to 132,241 lots
on Friday, the highest level since Feb. 10, 2011 - ICE data.
* ICE certified arabica stocks crept up by 864 bags to
1,535,113 bags by Feb. 3, with 41,512 bags pending grading - ICE
data.

COCOA
* Key March cocoa dropped $37, or 1.6 percent, to
settle at $2,263 per tonne.
* March/May spreading dominated the session, boosting volume
significantly, ahead of the March contract's first notice day
Feb. 15 - traders.
* Market consolidated, finding support around the 40-day
moving average around $2,222 per tonne, basis March,
* Speculators held a net long position in Liffe cocoa
futures and options by Jan. 31, which they cut their net short
position on ICE for the third straight week - exchange data.

* Total volume soared to 45,265 lots on Friday, the highest
since Nov. 4 - ICE data.

(Reporting by Marcy Nicholson and Rene Pastor; Editing by Bob
Burgdorfer)