Cocoa prices fall as crop outlook improves, stops hit

Cocoa futures were sharply lower on Friday, with a decline linked to improving crop prospects for the 2016/17 season accelerating as sell-stops were triggered.
March New York cocoa was off $92 or 3.2 percent at $2,794 per tonne at 1408 GMT.
The market had rallied during the last few days from a low of $2,743 set on Sep. 12 to a peak on Thursday of $2,902.

"The short covering rally has ended in cocoa and we've seen the resumption of the downtrend ahead of presumed better crops in November, December," one trader said.
"Overall people are getting less concerned about next year's issues," the trader added.
Abundant rain and sun in most of Ivory Coast's main cocoa growing regions appears to have improved the outlook for the 2016/17 main crop in the world's top grower.
Global cocoa production is expected to rise in the upcoming season, which starts on Oct. 1, potentially swinging the market into surplus after a substantial deficit in 2015/16.
March London cocoa was off 41 pounds or 1.8 percent at 2,216 pounds a tonne.
ICE raw sugar futures also fell, extending the previous session's late decline.
March raws were down 0.04 cents, or 0.2 percent, at 22.63 cents per lb.
Dealers said the recent rally in raw sugar, which has risen to four-year highs in the past week, was driven by funds which are now beginning to cash out.
"The rally last Friday was very sustained for most of the day, and this means that there was new, fresh speculative money coming in to the market," said Carlos Mera, senior commodity analyst at Rabobank.
December white sugar futures were down $4.70, or 0.8 percent, at $587.00 per tonne.
November robusta coffee  was down $15, or 0.7 percent, at $1,987 per tonne. The contract touched a 19-month high of $2,028 in the previous session on supply concerns in top producers Brazil and Vietnam.
December arabica was down 2.05 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $1.5320 per lb.
Arabica coffee had also risen to its highest levels since February 2015 in the previous day's session.
"In arabica we have a different situation (from robusta). There was a very high crop, higher than in the past two years. It (the price) is still going up mainly because of speculation and probably some concerns that the first flowering in the arabica crop in Brazil may be failing," Mera said.