SOFTS-ICE sugar slips to 2-1/2 year low, supply weighs

* Brazil's 2013/14 cane harvest begins

* Credit Suisse 3-month forecast for arabica $1.30/lb

(Adds details, quotes, updates prices)

LONDON, April 2 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures on ICE eased to a 2-1/2 year low on Tuesday on expectations of a bumper crop from top producer Brazil as its harvest got under way.

ICE arabica coffee was lower, also under pressure from ample Brazil supplies, while cocoa was steady.

Mills are beginning to crush Brazil's main centre-south cane crop, estimated at a record of around 600 million tonnes, which dealers say is expected to keep a lid on sugar prices.

"The market is still in a downtrend ... but we wonder whether we might be close to a floor at current levels," said Tobias Merath, global head of commodity research at Credit Suisse, noting that infrastructure bottlenecks in Brazil could underpin prices.

Logistics will by all accounts be challenging for any Brazilian exporter over next six months. The record sugar output will be 6 percent bigger than last year's; a record soy crop will be 24 percent bigger; and exports of a record corn crop have doubled to more than 20 million tonnes over the past year.

May raw sugar futures edged down 0.14 cent or 0.8 percent to 17.55 cents a lb by 1445 GMT, just above the 2-1/2 year low of 17.54 cents hit earlier in the session.

"The Brazil sugar season is technically upon us now, and as the starter pistol is fired there is conjecture that sugar may well be slow to come out because of logistical issues," Thomas Kujawa of brokerage Sucden Financial said.

Sugar prices have more than halved since February 2011 as consecutive global surpluses have created a supply glut.

"Sugar is an over-supplied market and that's what triggered the downtrend in the last few months, the question is has it fallen far enough?" Merath said.

May white sugar on Liffe was down $3.80, or 0.8 percent, at $499.50 a tonne.

COFFEE SLIPS

ICE May arabica coffee futures eased 1.75 cent, or 1.3 percent, to $1.3665 per lb and were not far from a 33-month low of $1.3405 touched on March 18, basis second month.

Credit Suisse's three-month and 12-month price forecasts pegged arabica just below current levels at $1.30 per lb.

Mostly favourable weather in Brazil has boosted supply expectations for a record off-year harvest in its biennial production cycle, which is seen keeping the market well supplied after bumper output in 2012/13.

"Both Brazil and Central America still have coffee to sell, and that's going to keep putting pressure on the market," a London-based broker said.

Speculators cut a net long position in robusta coffee futures and options on NYSE Liffe in the week to March 26, exchange data showed on Tuesday.

"We've seen the net long position come off quite substantially ... funds have been unloading," the broker said.

July robusta coffee futures on Liffe fell $6, or 0.3 percent, to $2,068 a tonne.

Cocoa prices remained under pressure from forward sales as West African producers looked to sell into any rallies and from good supply prospects for the mid-crop, dealers said.

"In Ivory Coast the mid-crop prospects have improved, there's been a bit more rain," Credit Suisse's Merath said.

Good rains and hot weather across most of Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions last week offered a boost to the mid-crop harvest, but steady showers through April remain critical for crop development, farmers and analysts said on Tuesday.

May cocoa on ICE was down $5 at $2,179 a tonne.

Ghana's cocoa purchases reached 601,303.7 tonnes by March 21 since the season started on Oct. 12, down 15.9 percent compared with the same period last year, data from industry regulator Cocobod showed on Tuesday.

Liffe July cocoa futures rose 10 pounds or 0.7 percent to 1,487 pounds ($2,300) a tonne. ($1 = 0.6565 British pounds)

(Editing by James Jukwey and Jane Baird)