LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures hit their highest levels in nearly a month on Wednesday as investors focussed on a worsening near-term supply outlook, while arabica coffee steadied after hitting nine successive record highs.
SUGAR
* Raw sugar futures on the ICE exchange SBc1 were up 0.1% at 19.67 cents per lb at 1250 GMT, having earlier hit their highest since Jan. 6 at 19.78 cents.
* Dealers said exporters in top producer Brazil are in no rush to sell as the Brazilian real BRL is strengthening, reducing their returns in local currency terms.
* They added speculators are rushing to reverse their bets on price falls, and that below-average rains in top producer Brazil in January plus dry weather in Thailand, India, China and Mexico are adding fuel to the fire.
* In Australia meanwhile, torrential rain and flooding in the northeast may have destroyed as much as a million tons of sugarcane, reducing Australia's annual output by up to 130,000 tons, the chairman of a cane farm industry group said.
* Looking ahead however, the global sugar balance is expected to shift to a small surplus in the 2025/26 season with production set to rise, analyst Green Pool said in its initial forecast for the crop year.
* White sugar LSUc1 edged up 0.1% to $527.50 a metric ton.
COFFEE
* Arabica coffee KCc1 dipped 0.1% to $3.8280 per lb after setting a record peak of $3.8895 on Tuesday.
* Arabica has been supported by an expected Brazilian output slump in the upcoming season, though some experts say the harvest, while down versus a year prior, may not be as bad as initially feared thanks to ample rains recently.
* Brazil produces nearly half the world's arabica.
* Robusta coffee LRCc1 edged up 0.2% to $5,557 a ton after peaking last week at $5,861, the highest price since the contract started trading in 2008.
COCOA
* New York cocoa futures CCc1 fell 2.7% to $10,566 a ton.
* Cadbury parent Mondelez MDLZ.O forecast a bigger-than-estimated drop in its annual profit on Tuesday, signalling pressures from higher costs, including from surging cocoa prices.
* The company's fourth-quarter sales volumes fell in Europe, indicating high prices are starting to eat into cocoa demand.
* London cocoa LCCc2 fell 3.2% to 8,306 pounds per ton.
(Reporting by Maytaal Angel; Editing by Jan Harvey)
((maytaal.angel@thomsonreuters.com - https://x.com/ReutersAngelM; 00442075429105 ;))
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