LONDON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Raw sugar on ICE eased on Thursday, with dealers expecting a moderate delivery against a contract expiry on Friday, while arabica coffee futures steadied against a backdrop of high premiums for physical coffee.
New York cocoa futures fell, edging towards 10-month lows touched last month, under pressure from weaker financial and commodity markets.
ICE raw sugar futures were weighed down by expectations for a huge 2016/17 cane harvest in top grower Brazil, and a fall in share and oil prices.
"The smoking gun for the recent shrink in range and lack of direction in the last few sessions seems to be a combination of the poor macro environment coupled with analysts upping their expectations of the coming Brazilian cane harvest," said Tom Kujawa, co-head of softs at Sucden Financial Sugar.
Turbulence tore through global markets on Thursday as investors sought the safety of Japanese yen, gold and top-rated bonds while dumping U.S. dollars on bets the Federal Reserve could be done with raising interest rates.
Dealers pointed to a moderate open interest, indicating that a large delivery against the March white sugar futures expiry was unlikely, with two trading days remaining before the contract goes off the board.
They said they expected Central America to be a main origin in the delivery.
ICE March raw sugar futures were down 0.13 cent, or 1 percent, at 13.25 cents per lb at 1235 GMT.
May white sugar was down $2.20, or 0.6 percent, at $389.00 per tonne.
Brazilian cane crush data was expected on Thursday, but was not expected to be market moving because the season was over and the data would relate to low levels of production.
Coffee held steady in light volumes, with high premiums for arabica and robusta auguring for further drawdowns in ICE certified stocks, traders said.
One broker said that if robusta futures rallied by $100-150 per tonne, Vietnamese selling would kick in, but producer selling was thin this week because of the Tet holiday in the world's biggest robusta grower.
ICE March arabica was up 0.15 cent, or 0.1 percent, at $1.1490 per lb.
March robusta coffee eased $6, or 0.4 percent, at $1,386 per tonne.
May New York cocoa fell $44, or 1.5 percent, in technically driven dealings, at $2,810 per tonne, edging towards a 10-month low of $2,738 touched on Jan. 28.
March London cocoa was down 21 pounds, or 1 percent, at 2,025 pounds per tonne. (Reporting by David Brough; Editing by Adrian Croft)