(Add comments and closing price)
New York, February 28 (Reuters) –
Raw sugar futures on ice fell on Friday, with the focus on March contract expiration, while coffee and cocoa were closed.
*Raw sugar futures settle 0.18 cents, or 0.9%, at 19.51 cents per pound. The contract lost 8.4% in the week.
*Disclaimer says March contract premium
Expired earlier this week earlier this week, a sharp drop to 0.59 cents, or as high as 1.61 cents.
*According to preliminary information from traders, the raw sugar distribution after the contract expires in March is 34,385 batches, or 1.74 million tons, the largest ever for the contract.
* Large delivery is often seen as a bearish market.
*White sugar fell 1.3% to $532.60 per metric tonne and lost 4.9% per week.
*Indian mills produced 21.98 million tons of sugar between October 1 and February 28, a 14% decrease from the previous year, due to lower output in the major production states Maharashtra and Karnataka.
*New York Cocoa fell $131, or 1.4%, to $9,124 per ton. This week was flat.
* BMI pointed out in a statement that people are worried that demand for price increases is easing. Prices have tripled over the past two years.
*International Cocoa Organization predicts on Friday that there will be a global cocoa surplus of 142,000 metric tons in the 2024/25 season (October to September).
*London cocoa fell 1.5% to 7,342 pounds per ton.
*Arabica coffee has little change, $3.7305 per pound. The contract lost 4.1% in the week.
*Dealers say the market appears to have stabilized after the market rose from a record peak of $4.2995 set on February 11 to a low of $3.6630 on Wednesday.
* Rubusta Coffee fell 0.9% per ton, at $5,330 per ton, losing 7% in the week. (Reports by Nigel Hunt and Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by David Evans, Ros Russell and Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
