SOFTS-Sugar, cocoa edge higher, eyes on Greece

LONDON Feb 6 (Reuters) - Raw sugar and cocoa futures were slightly higher on Monday, while arabica coffee eased, ahead of Greece's deadline for accepting a bailout deal proposed by the European Union.

Greece's coalition parties must tell the EU on Monday whether they accept the painful terms of a new bailout deal to avoid a messy default that could threaten the country's future in the euro zone.

SUGAR

* Sugar prices edged higher with dealers eyeing potential for further exports from key producer India, with a meeting of the Indian ministers' panel on food scheduled for Tuesday.

* Conditions are right for the possible approval of Indian sugar exports by authorities at a meeting on Feb. 7, a senior miller said on Sunday.

* March raw sugar futures on ICE stood 0.10 cent or 0.4 percent higher at 24.04 cents a lb at 0922 GMT. March futures touched a three-week low of 23.41 cents on Thursday.

* Pakistan has approved the export of 100,000 tonnes of white sugar based on an expected 2012 surplus of 1.5 mln tonnes, government officials said on Monday.

* Syria's National Sugar Co, a privately owned refiner with a capacity of 1 million tonnes a year, has halted production because of the poor security situation in the country, its chairman said on Sunday.

* Cargill's general manager for white sugar, Bas van Goor, said on Sunday it was likely the world sugar surplus would fall in 2012/13.

* Raizen, a joint venture between Brazil's Cosan and Royal Dutch Shell, expects sugarcane output in Brazil's main producing region to reach 535 million tonnes, its commercial director told Reuters on Sunday.

* Heavy rain is expected to take a toll on Queensland's agriculture industry, particularly on cotton, sugarcane, soybean and corn.

* New York sugar will gain further to 24.30 cents per lb, as a rebound from the Feb. 1 low of 23.43 cents has not been completed, according to Reuters analyst Wang Tao.

* London March white sugar futures were up $0.3 or 0.1 percent to $635.40 per tonne.

COCOA

* Cocoa futures nudged higher in early trade, as the market steadied following volatile trading last week, after Ivory Coast launched its forward sales of the 2012/13 crop.

* March cocoa on ICE rose $23 or 1 percent to $2,323 a tonne.

* New York cocoa is expected to end the current rebound below $2,399 per tonne, and fall towards the Feb. 3 low of $2,238 thereafter, according to Reuters analyst Wang Tao.

* Speculators cut their net short position in cocoa futures and options for the third straight week on ICE Futures U.S. in the week ended Jan. 31, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.

COFFEE

* Arabica coffee futures were lower, consolidating following a rebound from Thursday's six week low.

* ICE March arabicas were down 2 cent or 0.9 percent at $2.1395 per lb, but remained above Thursday's six-week low on a second-month basis of $2.1385.

* Farmers in Vietnam, the world's largest robusta producer, are holding back about 60 percent of the crop as they wait for domestic prices to improve, trading house SW Commodities said on Monday, more than double normal stocks.

* The prices of new season Indian coffee continued to decline, falling for the third straight auction, on limited buying by exporters and domestic traders, auctioneer J. Thomas & Co said in a statement.

* New York coffee will rebound more to $2.2425 per lb, as indicated by its wave pattern and a Fibonacci retracement analysis, according to Reuters analyst Wang Tao.

* May robusta coffee on Liffe fell $29 or 1.6 percent to $1,835 a tonne.

OTHER MARKETS

* The euro and European shares retreated on Monday on nerves Greece would fail to come up with the political commitments needed to avoid a potential sovereign debt default, taking the shine off a U.S. jobs report that had brightened the global economic outlook.

* Oil slipped to around $114 a barrel on Monday as traders and investors worried that a failure to agree a deal with Greece for a second bailout would suppress demand in the eurozone, but renewed tensions with Iran kept a floor under prices.

* The euro fell broadly on Monday on investor concern that Greek coalition parties had yet to sign off on the terms of a new bailout with a deadline imminent, keeping alive the risk of a messy default which could rock the currency bloc. (Reporting by Sarah McFarlane; editing by Keiron Henderson)