LONDON: White sugar futures on ICE slipped on Thursday as the market consolidated from a nearly four-year peak hit earlier this week, although supply tightness maintained support.

March white sugar was down 0.3% to $461.30 a tonne at 1424 GMT, having climbed on Tuesday to a peak of $470.40.

White sugar availability remains limited by robust demand and a shortage of shipping containers that has prompted those who need sugar to seek it on the exchange.

Dealers said a significant sell-off in sugar is unlikely near term, but further out prices could retreat as the upcoming harvest from top producer Brazil looms into view.

March raw sugar fell 1% to 15.87 cents per lb.

March New York cocoa rose 1% to $2,552 a tonne.

March London cocoa rose 0.9% to 1,738 pounds per tonne.

March arabica coffee slipped 2.3% to $1.2115 per lb.

The global coffee market should see a surplus of 5.26 million 60-kg bags in the 2020/21 season, the International Coffee Organization said in a report on Tuesday.

Analysts in a Reuters poll see an arabica surplus of 8 million bags for 2020/21, though they expect prices to end the year at $1.35 per pound as the market moves to price in next season’s deficit.

March robusta coffee fell 0.6% to $1,335 a tonne.—Reuters