Robusta coffee slips further from recent record high

(Adds background, closing prices)

LONDON, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Robusta coffee futures fell on Monday, slipping further from last week’s record peak, while London cocoa and white sugar prices edged higher.

Arabica coffee, raw sugar and New York cocoa markets were closed on Monday because of a public holiday in the U.S.

* Robusta coffee fell 0.8% to close at $5,680 a metric ton after rising to a record high of $5,849 last week.

* Dealers said the run-up in prices appeared to have temporarily run out of steam and the market may fall further in the short-term.

* The market remained underpinned, however, by the recent strength of arabica prices. Supplies of robusta are also tight with farmers in top robusta producer Vietnam reluctant to sell at present, anticipating further price rises.

* London cocoa settled 0.3% higher at 8,165 pounds a ton.

* Dealers noted the pace of cocoa arrivals in ports in Ivory Coast was slowing but the cumulative total for the season to date remained nearly 20% above the same period last season.

* Cocoa arrivals totalled 27,000 tons between February 10 and February 16, down from 36,000 tons in the same week of the previous season. * Strong rains across Ivory Coast’s central regions are expected to strengthen cocoa trees and improve growing conditions for the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.

* White sugar ended 1.8% higher at $547.20 a ton.

* Dealers noted that funds have been scaling back net short positions in both white and raw sugar futures, with price charts becoming more bullish after the market’s recent rise. (Reporting by Nigel Hunt Editing by David Goodman and Tomasz Janowski)