London cocoa hits two-week high, sugar also climbs
Adds comments on coffee, sugar; updates prices
LONDON, Oct 31 (Reuters) - London cocoa futures hit a two-week high on Thursday, boosted in part by economic problems in second-biggest grower Ghana, while sugar prices also climbed.
COCOA
* March London cocoa LCCc2 settled down 0.4% to 5,359 pounds per metric ton after earlier touching a two-week high of 5,448 pounds.
* Dealers said financial problems continued to disrupt the purchasing of cocoa from farmers in Ghana.
* Cocoa growers in Ghana filed a complaint with state regulator Cocobod on Thursday listing environmental and social issues, including a demand for a "living income" for farmers.
* The processing sector in both Ivory Coast and Ghana also continued to struggle with declining grinds.
* Ivory Coast's cocoa grind fell 14.2% year on year in September to 54,984 metric tons, data from exporter association GEPEX showed on Thursday.
* December New York cocoa CCc1 fell 0.8% to $7,334 a ton.
SUGAR
* March raw sugar SBc1 settled up 0.52 cent, or 2.3%, at 22.74 cents per lb after setting a two-week peak of 22.82 cents.
* Dealers said the market's focus remained on rains in Brazil, which could curtail cane crushing in the current season but boost the outlook for next year's crop.
* Rabobank analysts, however, projected Brazil's Centre-South 2025/26 sugarcane crop at 580 million tons, which would be potentially less than mills will crush in the current season.
* December white sugar LSUc1 rose 1.2% to $576.50 a ton.
COFFEE
* January robusta coffee LRCc2 settled down $84, or 1.9%, at $4,369 a ton, erasing the previous session's gains.
* Dealers said they were keeping a close watch on whether Tropical Storm Trami had any impact on the robusta harvest in Vietnam, which should start to gather pace next month.
* The storm, which made landfall in Vietnam on Sunday, brought heavy rains in the country's coffee-growing area.
* "There was concern that rains may disrupt harvesting activities, but farmers have just harvested around 5% of the crop so the impact is minor," said a trader based in the coffee belt.
* December arabica coffee KCc1 fell 1.5% to $2.459 per lb.
* Rabobank expects lower exports from Brazil in the first semester of 2025 due to smaller-than-expected production this year.
Reporting by Nigel Hunt and Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by David Goodman, Barbara Lewis and Shailesh Kuber
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