New York cocoa hits 7-1/2-month peak, gains 15% in the week

(Adds comments on coffee, updates prices to settlement)

LONDON, Dec 13 (Reuters) –

Cocoa prices hit fresh 7-1/2-month peaks on Friday, posting gains for five consecutive weeks as the market remains concerned that this season’s supply recovery will not be enough to make up for three seasons of deficit.

Meanwhile, Arabica coffee remained some ways off this week’s record high.

* New York cocoa futures on ICE ​​settled up $479, or 4.4%, to $11,300 a metric ton. It gained 15% this week.

* The contract is nearing April’s record peak of $11,722, having hit a 7-1/2 month top of $11,365 earlier.

* Dealers noted that the weather in top-producing region West Africa has been dry of late, weighing on production expectations.

* Also, demand has yet to fall significantly. In Ivory Coast, which vies with the Netherlands as the world’s top cocoa grinder, demand is up 1.6% in the two months to November versus a year ago.

* London cocoa rose 3.5% to 8,926 pounds per ton, having posted a weekly gain of 8%.

* Arabica coffee futures on ICE settled down 1.75 cents, or 0.5%, at $3.195 per lb, some ways off the $3.4835 record hit on Tuesday. It fell 3.2% in the week.

* Dealers said the market is reassessing worries over top producer Brazil’s crop outlook, which, albeit diminished due to this year’s drought, might not be as poor as previously thought.

* Roasters in Brazil, meanwhile, are raising coffee prices by a large margin and traders expect prices to rise the world over, meaning consumption could slow, especially in developing nations.

* Robusta coffee rose 0.6% at $5,184 a ton.

* Brazil’s robusta-growing state of Espirito Santo expects to repeat in 2025 the good exporting volumes seen this year.

* Unseasonable rains have returned to top robusta producer Vietnam, which could further disrupt the delayed harvest.

* Raw sugar ​​​settled down 0.17 cent, or 0.8%, at 20.72 cents per lb, having hit a near 3-month low earlier of 20.57. The contract lost 5% in the week.

* Top producer Brazil’s sugar production late in November surprised to the upside, indicating final crop volumes could be higher than most analysts expected.

* March white sugar fell 0.9% at $528.00 a ton. The contract posted a weekly loss of 5.8%. (Reporting by Maytaal Angel and Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi, Shreya Biswas and Mark Porter)