SOFTS — Raw sugar gains after setting 3 — 1/2 — week low, cocoa also recovers

LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) — Raw sugar futures on ICE rose on Monday, recovering after setting a 3-1/2-week low earlier in the session, while cocoa bounced off a near 6-week trough. Sugar Raw sugar ​​rose 1% to 17.53 cents per lb at 1244 GMT, after touching a 3-1/2 week low of 17.26 cents. Raw sugar speculators cut their net long position, essentially bets on price gains, by 584 contracts to 105,531 in the week to September 15, data showed. Raw sugar hit a 15-month peak earlier this month but has since come under pressure from profit taking by investors who are waiting to see the results of El Nino-linked weather damage, dealers said. Against that, sugar remains underpinned by lower beet production in Europe, reduced 2026/27 output prospects in Asia due to a lack of rains, and lower output in top grower Brazil due to excess rains. Indonesia sugar cane production is expected to drop by around 25% this year due to dry weather conditions and wildfires. White sugar edged up 0.5% to $511.40 a metric ton. Cocoa London cocoa ​rose 1.8% to £4,166 per metric ton, having hit a near six-week low of £4,036. Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast totalled 16,000 metric tons for the.