Cocoa hits 4-month lows, falls below $8,000/ton

(Updates with comments on coffee, sugar; adds closing prices)

NEW YORK, March 14 (Reuters) –

Cocoa futures on the ICE exchange hit four-month lows on Friday and ended the week with losses above 5% amid a large increase in ICE-certified stocks and benign weather forecasts for West Africa.

* London cocoa ​settled down 259 pounds, or 4.1%, to 6,082 pounds per metric ton. The contract lost 7% this week, after losing 11% last week.

* Dealers noted ICE-certified stocks have shot up to their highest since early January

ahead of the expiry of the front month cocoa contract later this session.

* They added that weather reports for Ivory Coast, Ghana and parts of southern Nigeria are favourable for the next ten days, with a pickup in downpours towards the end of the period.

* New York cocoa fell 3.7% to $7,867 a ton. It lost 5% in the week, after losing 9% last week.

* Arabica coffee settled down 8.5 cents, or 2.2%, at $3.772 per lb. It fell 1.8% in the week.

* Robusta coffee fell 2.4% to $5,397 a ton, posting a 1% weekly gain.

* Rabobank said it expects ICE-certified stocks of both robusta and arabica to increase in the weeks ahead, as both types of coffee traded at tenderable parity in certain origins at various points over the past few months.

* It said the stock increase should pressure prices over the coming few weeks.

* Broker Marex said coffee exports from Brazil in Feb. were below the 5-year monthly average for the first time since Dec. 2023.

* Raw sugar futures settled down 0.06 cent, or 0.3%, at 19.19 cents per lb​. The contract, however, gained 4.8% in the week.

* Sugar is being underpinned by continued concerns about rainfall volumes in top producer Brazil and a deterioration in sugar production expectations in India.

* India is likely to produce 26.4 million metric tons of sugar during the current season to September, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said, 2.94% down from its previous estimate.

* White sugar rose 0.5% at $541.50 a ton. It posted a 3.1% weekly gain. (Reporting by May Angel and Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Diane Craft)