NY sugar hits 11-week low, near bear market; cocoa, coffee up

Aug 24 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures on ICE dropped to
11-week lows on Friday and were teetering on the brink of a bear
market after Unica data showing the quickening pace of Brazil's
harvest reinforced concerns about the growing market surplus.
Coffee and cocoa were both higher as they recovered from
recent pressure.

2:24 PM SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
CHNG CHNG VOL
Sugar OCT 19.58 0.13 0.7% 19.48 19.74 31,264
Sugar MAR 20.29 0.13 0.6% 20.22 20.48 20,133
Cocoa SEP 2437 -8 -0.3% 2,417 2,439 13
Cocoa DEC 2397 10 0.4% 2,366 2,408 5,388
Coffee SEP 162.6 2.4 1.5% 160.00 163.50 150
Coffee DEC 162.9 1.25 0.8% 161.25 164.50 6,697

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG
ICE SUGAR 65,339 113,650 88,516
ICE COCOA 6,786 23,774 19,013
ICE COFFEE 8,836 24,502 19,769

RAW SUGAR
* Benchmark October raw sugar futures settled down
0.01 cent, or 0.05 percent, at 19.58 cents a lb, after falling
as low as 19.48 cents, the weakest for the front month since
June 6.
* Volumes were low due to the northern hemisphere summer
holiday. UK markets will be closed on Monday. About 65,000 lots
had trader, more than 40 percent below the 30-day average.
* 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.
* The market was on the brink of bear territory after a
19-percent drop in prices since mid-July.
* Technically the market was oversold, with its Relative
Strength Index (RSI) below 30.
* Prices could hit 19 cents in the near term, although that
likely would draw consumer buying - Alex Oliveira, senior sugar
analyst at brokers Newedge USA.
* A bearish target range of 19.24-19.42 cents per lb remains
unchanged for October sugar, as it is riding on a downward wave
5, according to Reuters market analyst Wang Tao.
* Total open interest climbed for the fifth straight day, up
8,971 lots to 701,833 on Aug. 23, the highest since June 28 -
ICE data.

ARABICA COFFEE
* Benchmark December arabica futures traded up 0.1
cent, or 0.65 percent, at $1.629 per lb.
* The premium on arabica coffee over robustas has narrowed
to around 70 cents per lb from over 90 cents in July as roasters
have changed their blends to use more lower-priced robusta beans
- trader.
* Technical charts showed coffee was close to being
oversold, with an RSI of 35.
* Signals will remain mixed for December coffee so long as
it hovers above a support at $1.6035 per lb, according to
Reuters analyst Wang Tao.
* Only 8,800 lots traded, more than two thirds below the
30-day average.

COCOA
* Benchmark December cocoa futures rose for a second
session, settling up $12, or 0.5 percent, at $2,397 per tonne,
just shy of its intraday high of $2,408.
* The market watched a large speculative long position - the
biggest since the unrest in Ivory Coast in early 2011 -
indicating bets on higher prices amid possible supply issues in
West Africa due to dry weather and Ivory Coast's industry
reforms.
* Two days of gains were not enough to offset losses earlier
in the week due to better weather in the key-growing region of
West Africa, which helped the forthcoming main crop.
* Prices notched their largest weekly fall since the end of
June.
* Nearly 6,800 lots changed hands, which was over 70 percent
below the 30-day average.
* December cocoa will drop to $2,329 per tonne as a
correction from $2,501 has not completed, according to Reuters
market analyst Wang Tao.

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
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(Reporting by Josephine Mason; Editing by Bob Burgdorfer)