SOFTS-ICE raw sugar see biggest weekly gain this year,…

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NEW YORK/LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) – ICE raw sugar edged higher in mixed trade on Friday, ending the week up nearly 7 percent as investors continued to cover a bearish stance amid persistent concerns over a trucker strike in Brazil.

Cocoa futures and arabica coffee both retreated.

New York and London softs markets will shut for public holidays on Monday and reopen on Tuesday.

SUGAR

* July raw sugar finished up 0.08 cent, or 0.65 percent, at 12.46 cents per lb.

* Prices notched the biggest one-week gain since mid-December, up for a second week. They hit the highest since late March on Thursday, as striking Brazilian truckers raised concerns about flows from the world’s top producer.

* Brazil’s Finance Minister on Friday said the government must find “structural solutions” to rising diesel prices, as truckers protesting fuel costs continued a nationwide blockade. President Temer authorized federal forces to clear highways.

* The government had reached a deal late Thursday with several associations representing the drivers to suspend the protests but a key group was not among those.

* “The main focus continues to be on Brazil,” said Agrilion advisors in a daily note.

* News that India will build stockpiles also boosted prices this week.

* ICE August white sugar settled unchanged at $351.4 per tonne after hitting late March highs on Thursday.

COCOA

* July New York cocoa settled down $47, or 1.81 percent, at $2,556 per tonne, pressured by a rising U.S. dollar.

* Benchmark prices finished with a second straight weekly loss, with traders citing investor selling.

* “The market overshot itself, and here we are. Today, it’s risk off,” said a U.S. trader.

* July London cocoa finished down 21 pounds, or 1.13 percent, at 1,844 pounds per tonne.

COFFEE

* July arabica coffee settled down 0.15 cent, or 0.12 percent, at $1.204 per lb, but still finished the week up for the first time in a month.

* Traders cited the fluctuations in the U.S. dollar versus the Brazilian real and a recent early frost that lifted prices at the start of the week as the key drivers.

* July robusta coffee also eased, finishing down $3, or 0.17 percent, at $1,752 per tonne.

* The market could see between 0.5 million and 0.8 million bags of Brazilian conillon robusta graded onto the London exchange, Rabobank said in a note. The bank slightly raised its forecast for the 2018/19 global coffee surplus on Friday, but warned that weather risks in top growers Brazil and Vietnam could heighten volatility. (Reporting by Chris Prentice and Ana Ionova Editing by David Goodman and James Dalgleish)

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