NY cocoa settles firm, sugar and coffee move lower

Aug 14 (Reuters) - U.S. cocoa finished higher on Tuesday,
paring the previous session's steep losses amid concerns about
dry weather in key growing region West Africa, while raw sugar
closed lower for the eleventh straight day.
Arabica coffee trickled down to close at a seven-week low.

2:00 PM SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
CHNG CHNG VOL
Sugar OCT 20.32 -0.13 -0.6% 20.24 20.77 43,653
Sugar MAR 20.9 -0.06 -0.3% 20.83 21.28 26,690
Cocoa SEP 2430 36 1.5% 2,386 2,468 6,694
Cocoa DEC 2441 36 1.5% 2,397 2,481 14,728
Coffee SEP 163.05 -1.05 -0.6% 162.40 165.75 11,226
Coffee DEC 166 -1 -0.6% 165.35 168.60 13,126

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG
ICE SUGAR 85,545 95,868 96,247
ICE COCOA 26,628 24,736 21,666
ICE COFFEE 28,274 23,660 22,051

RAW SUGAR
* Benchmark October raw sugar futures slipped 0.07
cent, or 0.3 percent, to finish at 20.32 cents per lb, the
lowest level for the spot contract since June 25.
* The lower finish marks the key contract's 11th straight
weak session.
* The October contract found support above 20 cents intraday,
before turning lower late in the session on a lack of demand -
traders.
* Improved crop weather in the world's top growers Brazil
and India also continued to weigh on the market - traders.

ARABICA COFFEE
* December arabica futures dropped 1.05 cents, or 0.6
percent, to finish at $1.66 a lb, its weakest level since June
25.
* Harvest pressure in top grower Brazil, where producers
have harvested about 80 percent of their crop, weighed on the
market - traders.
* Chart-based pressure also helped lower the market, as
prices continued to extend losses below long-term moving
averages - traders.
* ICE certified arabica stocks jumped by 7,929 bags to
1,833,872 bags by Aug. 13, the highest since September 2010,
with a heavy 73,585 bags pending grading - ICE data.

COCOA
* Benchmark December cocoa futures settled up $42, or
1.8 percent, at $2,441, in an inside session that remained below
Monday's intraday nine-month high of $2,501 per tonne.
* The market corrected higher after Monday's steep tumble,
with investor buying returning as concern about dry crop
conditions in West Africa remained - traders.
* "The whole market's been driven up by the potential for
dry weather persisting in Africa." - Shawn Hackett, Hackett
Financial Advisors in Florida.
* Australia's weather bureau said there were clear signs El
Nino was developing in the eastern Pacific, raising concerns
over the potential impact of the weather event on agriculture.

* Cocoa farmgate prices in most of Ivory Coast's major
growing regions were stable to higher last week on strong
international price levels and domestic supply concerns -
farmers, buyers.

For related news and prices, click on the codes in brackets:
Sugar futures/spreads Sugar cash prices
Coffee futures/spreads Coffee cash prices
Cocoa futures/spreads Cocoa cash prices

RELATED NEWS AND OTHER TOPICS
All sugar news All coffee news
All cocoa news All softs news
All commodities news Softs diary
Weather news Foreign exchange rates
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(Reporting by Marcy Nicholson; editing by Carol Bishopric)