(Refiles to amend pronoun in paragraph 5 in story dated July 18)
LONDON (Reuters) -Raw sugar futures on the ICE exchange headed back towards recent two week highs on Tuesday as worries over the negative impact on yields caused the El Nino weather phenomenon returned to the fore.
SUGAR
* October raw sugar rose 0.6% to 23.92 cents per lb as 1240 GMT, having hit a ltwo-week high on Friday​.
* India, the world’s second largest sugar exporter, has received average monsoon rains since the start of the season on June 1, though uneven rainfall distributions have created new worries.
* “Global sugar prices (are) expected to surge in (the) second half of 2023,” said Nidhi Jain at UK-based research and analytics company The Smart Cube.
* “The intensity of the dry season that El Niño is set to cause this year could result in a 10 to 15 per cent reduction in sugarcane yield globally,” she said.
* October white sugar ​​rose 0.3% to $671.70 a metric ton.
COCOA
* September London cocoa ​​rose 2% to 2,542 pounds ($3,327.22) per metric ton, having hit their highest in more than four decades earlier this month.
* Cocoa remains underpinned by tight supply, though dealers said data on the north American second quarter cocoa grind, a measure of demand, is expected to show a decline 3%-5% when it is released later this week.
* Also, a mix of showers and drier, sunny spells in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa growing regions last week formed ideal conditions for flowers and small pods to grow ahead of the October-March main crop, farmers said.
* September New York cocoa rose 1.6%Â to $3,413 a metric ton.
COFFEE
* September arabica coffee edged up 0.1% to $1.5595 per lb, having hit a six-month low on Monday.
* Arabica is under pressure as the harvest in top producer Brazil gets underway amid favourable weather conditions, though dealers said farmers are starting to hold back sales due to falling prices.
* September robusta coffee fell 0.5% to $2,542 a metric ton.
* Dealers said farmers in Brazil, the world’s third largest exporter, are selling, fearing further price drops.
($1 = 0.7640 pounds)
(Reporting by Maytaal Angel;)
