ICE Arabica Coffee fell to a five-month low

New YORK / London (Reuters)-ICE Arabica coffee futures fell for a fifth straight session on Monday, hitting a more than five-month low as investors closed long positions by the end of the year.

ICE cocoa US futures rose on fears that unusual weather in Ivory Coast, the largest grower, would damage crops. Raw sugar, dragged down by the weakness of the Brazilian currency, the real, the largest producer, fell to contractual lows.

ICE U. S. futures soft commodities market trading volume across the board light.

In recent months, Arabica coffee futures fell 3.45 cents, or 2%, to settle at 1.6515 cents a pound, having earlier fallen to 1.6465, the lowest since July 18.

The technical side of the coffee market is short, and speculators scramble to get rid of the bulls before the end of the year.

In March Robusta coffee fell $28, or 1.5%, to settle at $1875 a tonne.

Cocoa prices in New York rose $23, or 0.8%, to settle at $2964 a tonne.

London cocoa fell 7 pounds, or 0.4%, in March to settle at 1982 a tonne.

In March, raw sugar fell 0.1 cents, or 0.7%, to 14.60 cents per pound. The intraday low of 14.53 was the low of the March contract.

March sugar futures fell $5.80, or 1.5%, to settle at $386.20 a ton.