SOFTS-Robusta coffee slips as Brazil reverses decision to import

(Updates prices, adds detail)

LONDON

, Feb 22 (

Reuters

) - Robusta coffee futures fell on Wednesday as

Brazil

backtracked on plans to allow imports into the country for the first time, while raw sugar edged higher as technicals supported. COFFEE * Robusta coffee slipped, with the May contract down $20, or 0.91 percent, at $2,169 a tonne by 1456 GMT, after earlier slumping 2.2 percent to a session low of $2,141. * The weakness came after Brazil's President

Michel Temer

ordered a suspension of the authorisation of robusta coffee imports late on Tuesday. * Brazil was poised to allow imports of 1 million 60-kg bags of coffee from

Vietnam

at a 2 percent tariff for the first time under a decree outlined this week. * "For me, for anything like this to go through, it's got to be a desperate situation," one dealer said, noting a recent fall in internal prices suggested this was not the case. "It shows you there's coffee there. They just need a bit of pressure to sell it." * The imports were meant to ease a supply squeeze after two years of drought in top producing state

Espirito Santo

, which has hit the country's soluble coffee industry. * Local robusta producers have opposed the move, maintaining there is enough domestic supply to meet demand. * May arabica was up 1.15 cents, or 0.76 percent, at $1.53 per lb. SUGAR * March raw sugar was up 0.08 cents, or 0.39 percent, at 20.82 cents per lb, after earlier climbing to 20.94. * Dealers said technicals supported, as prices rose above the 200-day moving average. But gains were limited as the market struggled to move past the next resistance level. * The front month climbed 2.4 percent the previous day on tightening nearby supplies, highlighted by physical purchases from

Egypt

and

Iran

. * The

International Sugar Organization

on Tuesday trimmed its sugar deficit forecast for 2016-17 but also noted dwindling global stocks will help support prices after the market comes out of deficit in the 2017/2018 season. * May white sugar rose $2.50, or 0.45 percent, to$563.10 a tonne. * The white sugar premium remained near the 3-month high touched a day earlier, supported by demand from

Myanmar

, seen as a route to China, and expectations of Indian imports later this year. COCOA * May

New York

cocoa was unchanged at $1,996 a tonne, while May London cocoa fell 5 pounds, or 0.31 percent, to 1,609 pounds a tonne. (Reporting by Mariana Ionova; editing by David Clarke and David Evans)