Updates with comments and closing prices

NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures plunged on Thursday on the ICE exchange a day before the expiration of the front-month contract amid comments about Brazilian selling and a possible move by a trader to reduce its long position.

SUGAR

* Raw sugar futures SBc1, which expire on Friday, ​settled down 0.95 cent, or 4.6%, at 19.69 cents per lb, giving up ground after hitting a two-month high of 21.57 cents earlier this week.

* Brokers said some Brazilian sugar producers were active sellers in the market after it hit the two-month peak.

* There was also chat that one large sugar trader had to cut its long position in the market after ICE rejected its request to take a larger-than-allowed volume on the March expiration. ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

* The International Sugar Organization $(ISO)$ has raised its forecast for an expected global sugar deficit in 2024/25 to 4.88 million metric tons, partly driven by lower-than-expected production in India.

* White sugar LSUc1 settled down $15.00, or 2.7%, at $539.70 a metric ton.

COFFEE

* Arabica coffee KCc2 settled down 1.6 cents, or 0.4%, at $3.736 per lb, having touched a three-week low of $3.6630 on Wednesday.

* Arabica hit a series of record highs earlier this year and remains up nearly 20%, but the market has grown concerned about a pushback from consumers against high prices, dealers said.

* Keurig Dr Pepper KDP.O said this week net sales in its U.S. coffee segment fell 2.4% in the fourth quarter amid high coffee prices, while JDE Peet's JDEP.AS forecast a small decline in 2025 operating profit due to soaring coffee costs.

* Still, arabica remains underpinned overall by worries the crop at top producer Brazil will disappoint again this year. The weather in the country has been dry of late, dealers said, nothing that the situation could hurt fruit growth.

* Robusta coffee LRCc2 fell 0.6% to $5,376 a ton.

COCOA

* New York cocoa CCc2 ​​settled up $25, or 0.3%, to $9,255 a ton, after gaining 4.8% on Wednesday.

* Cocoa has fallen more than 15% this year, with solid West African rainfall of late and demand destruction pressuring prices.

* Cocoa stocks held in ICE warehouses are meanwhile at their highest since early December CC-TOTAL-TOT.

* London cocoa LCCc2 was little changed at 7,454 pounds per ton.

(Reporting by May Angel and Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by David Evans, Nick Zieminski and Shounak Dasgupta)

((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters Messaging: marcelo.teixeira.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net - https://x.com/tx_marcelo))