London, April 27 - Coffee, cocoa and sugar futures eased on Monday on concern a flu outbreak in North America could be the start of a pandemic and damage ailing global economies, dealers said.
"We are getting a typical market reaction to an event such as this. People are deciding to book profits or avoid long positions until there is more clarity," said soft commodity analyst Abah Ofon of Standard Chartered.
The flu outbreak sparked broad-based losses in both commodity and equity markets. The Reuters-Jefferies CRB index, a global commodities benchmark, was down 2.91 or 1.31 percent at 219.95 points at 1429 GMT.
Sugar proved the most resilient after its strong advance to a seven-month high late last week, driven partly by expected strong demand from top consumer India. May raws on ICE fell 0.11 cent to 13.79 cents a lb but stood well above an early low of 13.50 cents.
Ofon said California's new low-carbon fuel rules may also be supportive for sugar in the longer-term, potentially boosting imports of sugar-derived ethanol from Brazil.
August white sugar futures in London stood $1.30 lower at $417.50 per tonne.
Europe's sugar beet area should rise to 3.10 million hectares in 2009, up from 3.01 million last year although production is seen largely unchanged at 23.5 million tonnes, raw value, analyst F.O. Licht said on Monday.
"The rather unspectacular finding of this year's analysis of European sugar beet areas is that a rise in sugar beet sowings will most likely be offset by a return of yields to more 'normal' levels from last year's exceptionally high values," F.O. Licht said in a report.
Cocoa and coffee prices tracked losses in other markets.
July cocoa on ICE fell $70 to $2,381 a tonne with July cocoa in London down 30 pounds at 1,727 pounds a tonne.
Dealers said cocoa markets were attempting to consolidate after falling earlier this month on bearish first quarter grind data and improving mid-crop prospects in West Africa with key support seen at $2,350 a tonne, basis ICE July.
Coffee prices were lower with the market slipping after a strong run-up last week.
July arabica futures on ICE fell 3.90 cents to $1.1555 per lb while July robustas in London slipped $27 to $1,483 a tonne.