Coffee & Cocoa Close Market Review, March 18, 2011

NY cocoa sinks late on Gbagbo talk, sugar/coffee up :  NEW YORK, March 18 (Reuters) - U.S. cocoa futures endedFriday at a two-month low after talk that Ivory Coast's LaurentGbagbo may be open to negotiations to quit the presidency, which could allow beans from the top producer to reach the market.

COFFEE
* May arabica coffee futures increased 5.30 cents to  conclude at $2.762 per lb.
 

* On the week, the arabica market was up 0.65 percent.

Robusta coffee soars to 3-yr high, Japan eyed

NEW YORK/LONDON,  - Robusta futures charged up a 3-year peak Thursday as a shortage of deliverable supplies in the London coffee market stoked a rally which crossed the sea to New York arabica futures.

Sugar surged due to increased cash buying and cocoa was propped up by the violent power struggle which has virtually stopped bean exports in top cocoa producer Ivory Coast.

London's May robusta futures jumped $128 or by 5.15 percent to close at $2,615 per tonne, having hit a lifetime and 3-year top of $2,661. New York's May arabica coffee contract rose 5.55 cents to close at $2.709 a lb.

COFFEE AND COCOA FORECAST FOR TODAY AND YESTERDAY'S MARKET CLOSE REVIEW

NEW YORK,  - Raw sugar, arabica coffee and cocoa futures finished higher on Thursday as the marketextended gains after heavy liquidation this week caused by the nuclear crisis in earthquake-hit Japan.

COFFEE
* May arabica coffee futures rose 5.55 cents to end at $2.709 per lb.
 

* Analysts said the rise was inspired by a rally in the London robusta market to its highest in three years.
 

* Scoville said strong London values hoisted New York "up along with it".

COFFEE AND COCOA FORECAST FOR TODAY AND YESTERDAY'S MARKET CLOSE REVIEW

    NEW YORK, March 17, 2011 - Arabica coffee futures closed higher Wednesday as the market staged a modest rebound after a selling spree sparked by the nuclear plant emergency in Japan which was already reeling from a killerquake and tsunami.

    But cocoa futures were hit by late investor selling to close near an eight-week low.

    COFFEE

    * May arabica coffee futures <KCc2> increased 2.40 cents toconclude at $2.6535 per lb.

Brazil further curtails foreign land purchases

BRASILIA, March 17, 2011 - Brazil has closed a legal loophole used by foreigners to buy farm land, a change of rules that is fueling uncertainty among agricultural investors in one of the world's leading food exporters.

"We simply applied the law," Attorney-General Luis Inacio Adams told Reuters on Wednesday. "Foreigners can buy land up to a certain limit and they can create (minority) partnerships with Brazilians."

-Kenya to reintroduce robusta coffee variety

NAIROBI, March 17, 2011 - Kenya is poised to reintroduce robusta coffee this year in areas that do not normally grow the commodity, and possibly build a factory to process the beans once volumes are substantial, the country's regulator said.

East Africa's biggest economy stopped producing the bean variety almost three decades ago after production plummeted when farmers cut back growing of robusta due to low earnings compared with the arabica variety for which Kenya is renowned.

Liffee Cocoa tumble in commodities sell-off

* Liffe May robusta coffee ends down $15 at $2,375 a tonne. Prices slide along with other commodity markets after a  huge earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.
 

* Liffe May cocoa ends down 63 pounds at 2,121 pounds a tonne, caught up in the sell-off in commodities. *********