NY coffee rallies almost 7 pct on technicals; sugar recovers

Sept 10 (Reuters) - Arabica coffee put in its best daily
performance since January 2009 on Monday, rallying almost 7
percent, on technical buying and short covering.
Sugar continued to rebound, while cocoa came under pressure
for a second day as investors locked in profits after the
market's 12-percent rally over the past two weeks.

3:24 PM SETTLE NET PCT LOW HIGH CURRENT
CHNG CHNG VOL
Sugar OCT 19.43 0.05 0.3% 19.30 19.74 62,630
Sugar MAR 20.1 0.19 1.0% 19.83 20.27 50,084
Cocoa SEP 2696 -28 -1.2% 2,660 2,711 25
Cocoa DEC 2653 -23 -0.7% 2,582 2,670 13,717
Coffee SEP 173.4 10.7 6.6% 173.50 173.50 5
Coffee DEC 173.65 10.65 6.5% 163.25 174.35 20,671

TOTAL MARKET VOLUME
CURRENT 30D AVG 250D AVG
ICE SUGAR 130,299 88,546 96,832
ICE COCOA 18,841 24,869 22,140
ICE COFFEE 27,177 22,921 22,181

RAW SUGAR
* ICE October raw sugar futures rose 0.25 percent to
settle at 19.43 cents per lb.
* Recovering from two-year lows hit last week, prices were
boosted by a more constructive technical outlook, offsetting the
impact of renewed monsoon rains in India. The wet weather will
reduce the threat of a prolonged drought.
* Position rolling out of the October contract, ahead of its
expiry at the end of the month, into March, continued and
boosted volume - traders.
* Open interest rose by almost 10,000 lots to 733,204, its
highest level since mid-June, reflecting the growing speculative
net short position.
* Speculators switched to a net short position in the week
to Sept. 6, CFTC data showed. Betting on lower prices as crop
and harvest weather have improved in the world's biggest
producers Brazil and India, they now hold their biggest net
short position since December 2007.
* India's sugar output in the next season starting October
is expected to drop 4 percent from a previous forecast due to a
drought, a leading trade body said on Monday, but analysts still
see some exportable surplus.
* The last available Thai raw sugar from the current crop
was sold to trading houses at the highest premiums in two years,
at above 300 points to New York futures, and consumers are now
shifting their focus to next year's delivery, dealers said.

* October sugar will retest a resistance at 19.61 cents per
lb, as a rebound from 18.81 cents has not completed.

* France expects its sugar beet crop to fall 7.1 percent
this year from 2011, due to lower yields in all of the country's
major producing regions, the French farm ministry said on
Monday.

ARABICA COFFEE
* Benchmark December arabica futures on ICE surged as
much as 6.9 percent before settling up 6.5 percent at $1.7365
per lb, a one-month high. It pierced a 100-day moving average at
$1.71.
* That was its biggest one-day gain since January 2009.
* Traders said there was little fundamental news behind the
move up, pointing to technical buying and short covering after
heavy fund and speculative selling since mid-July. That had
pushed prices to multi-month lows last week, wiping almost 18
percent off its value.
* Stops were triggered when it pierced $1.70 per lb,
breaking out of its recent range - traders.
* The market used Friday's CFTC data as a trigger to buy,
traders said. Speculators added to their net short position for
the seventh straight week, taking it to a new record high for
the third week in a row.
* "The simple fact that the short had added was a red flag
to the bulls," said Sucden's Nick Penney.
* Farmers in Brazil, the world's largest producer, may
return to sell into the rally after a prolonged absence -
traders.
"This is exactly what they've been waiting for," said Hector
Galvan, senior market strategist for RJO Futures in Chicago.
* Open interest rose 700 lots to 144,937 lots, its highest
level since mid-June, reflecting a buildup of short speculative
positions.
* ICE certified stocks rose by 6,496 bags to over 2 million
bags on Sept. 7, the highest since August 2010 - ICE data.
* Uganda's coffee exports fell 25 percent in August to
233,451 60-kg bags, below what the country had projected, due to
slowing production in some growing regions, the state-run Uganda
Coffee Development Authority said.

COCOA
* ICE December cocoa futures closed down $23, or 0.85
percent, to settle at $2,653 per tonne on profit taking after
prices hit 10-months highs on Thursday.
* The recent rally has pushed open interest up to a fresh
record of 205,343 lots on Sept. 7, up from 204,878 a day earlier
- ICE data.
* The noncommercial dealers more than doubled their net long
position in U.S. cocoa futures and options, making it the
highest since May 2010 in the week to Sept. 6, betting on supply
disruptions from West Africa, the world's No. 1
producer.
* Cocoa purchases declared to Ghana's Cocobod reached 51,000
tonnes by Aug. 30 since the start of the light crop in mid-July,
data from the industry regulator showed on Monday.
* Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached
around 1,348,000 tonnes by Sept. 9, exporters estimated on
Monday, compared with 1,429,393 tonnes in the same period of the
previous season.
* Fears that an unevenly managed reform of the cocoa sector
in top grower Ivory Coast will cause chaos in its exports are
likely to support prices of the chocolate ingredient, even
though better rains may result in slightly larger output next
season.

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 Josephine Mason; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)