OREANDA-NEWS. February 02, 2015. ICE raw sugar fell to a 2-1/2 week low on Friday as expectations mounted that excess inventories will not erode as quickly as had been thought, while arabica coffee notched a daily gain but still had a fifth-straight monthly loss.

Cocoa turned higher on chart-based buying from a one-year low.

March raw sugar on ICE Futures US closed down 0.06 cent, or 0.4 percent, at 14.79 cents a lb after falling as low as 14.67 cents.

Prices were under pressure from the Brazilian real's sharp losses, expected to spark selling of large supplies of the dollar-traded commodity in the No. 1 producer.

"Talk of Indian exports, high crop forecasts for Brazil, calls for a higher surplus are all contributing to pressure," said James Liddiard of consultancy Agrilion in New York.

India, the world's No. 2 sugar producer, is widely expected to introduce raw sugar export incentives, adding to a global glut. Even so, the wait time for that go-ahead could mean that India's raw sugar exports will halve this year.

The country will produce 26 million tonnes of sugar in 2014/15, an industry group said on Friday. India and Brazil supplies will likely be key topics during the Platts Kingsman Dubai sugar conference starting this weekend.

In coffee, the spot ICE arabica contract settled up 1.9 cents, or 1.2 percent, at USD1.619 a lb. Arabica bucked currency pressure due to expectations that rain forecast for Brazil will stem only some of the damage from dry conditions in the world's largest producer. "Accumulated rainfall during the month of January was a third of the long-term average in the Brazilian coffee area," said Volcafe, the Swiss-based coffee division of commodities house ED&F Man.

Traders said they still expect a supply deficit this year.