NY sugar ends at 2-1/2-month low, cocoa up, coffee down

Aug 23 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures trading on ICE closed
at the lowest level in 2-1/2 months on Thursday, extending their
downtrend on long liquidation and short selling as top grower
Brazil was seen increasing its can crush.
U.S. cocoa futures inched higher while arabica coffee crept
lower, with both markets moving in choppy and thin dealings.

2:11 PM SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
CHNG CHNG VOL
Sugar OCT 19.59 -0.22 -1.1% 19.56 20.27 55,575
Sugar MAR 20.33 -0.15 -0.7% 20.31 20.92 29,791
Cocoa SEP 2425 -16 -0.7% 2,404 2,467 61
Cocoa DEC 2385 5 0.2% 2,370 2,428 11,680
Coffee SEP 160.25 1.8 1.1% 158.90 161.40 748
Coffee DEC 161.85 0.25 0.2% 161.25 163.25 8,565

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG
ICE SUGAR 107,754 90,060 96,393
ICE COCOA 16,112 24,493 21,788
ICE COFFEE 13,394 24,514 22,127

RAW SUGAR
* Benchmark October raw sugar futures dropped 0.35
cent, or 1.8 percent, to close at 19.59 cents a lb, the lowest
settlement for the spot contract since June 5.
* The October/March spread settled at a 0.74 cent discount,
compared with 0.66 cent the previous session.
* Market extended its downtrend on continued long
liquidation and short-selling as top grower Brazil was seen
crushing increased volumes - traders.
* Brazilian cane mills pumped out just over 3 million tonnes
of sugar in the first two weeks of August with the help of dry
weather, a volume 14 percent greater than the same fortnight a
year ago - milling association Unica.
* Consultant Jonathan Kingsman said Brazil's main
center-south region looks likely to crush 512 million tonnes of
cane for the 2012-2013 season, 3.6 percent more on the year.

* Indian monsoon rains picked up over cane-growing areas in
northern Uttar Pradash state in the past week, though the
country's other top sugar producer, western Maharastra, was
still suffering a shortfall. India is the world's second biggest
sugar grower.
* Total open interest climbed for the fifth straight day,
rising by 2,435 lots to 692,862 on Aug. 22, the highest since
June 29 - ICE data

ARABICA COFFEE
* December arabica futures inched down 0.25 cent, or
0.2 percent, to finish at $1.6185 a lb.
* Arabica coffee futures moved in an inside and choppy
session, with a lack of any new fundamental to move it in either
direction - traders.
* Volume was light, and nearly half its average, as many
dealers were away from their desks for summer vacations -
traders.
* Roasters are viewed as being well supplied and in no rush
to buy beans for now - traders.
* ICE certified arabica stocks rose by 8,300 bags to
1,880,586 bags by Aug. 22, the highest since September 2010,
with a hefty 117,303 bags pending grading.

COCOA
* Benchmark December cocoa futures finished up $5 at
$2,385 per tonne, an inside session.
* Market traded in an inside session, moving quietly
sideways it continued to consolidate from the nine-month high at
$2,501 per tonne, reached on Aug. 13 - traders.
* "The market is grinding lower and getting some
retracements on the way down here and bouncing off some of those
levels - Drew Geraghty, broker with ICAP North America in New
Jersey.
* U.S. cocoa futures followed the sterling against
the U.S. dollar, which was also choppy and moved on both sides
of unchanged throughout the day - traders.
* ICE certified cocoa stocks tumbled by 13,906 bags to
4,769,128 bags on Aug. 22 - exchange data.
* Cocoa purchases declared to Ghana's Cocobod reached 30,442
tonnes by Aug. 9 since the start of the light crop in mid-July -
industry regulator data.

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

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(Reporting by Marcy Nicholson; Editing by Marguerita Choy)