LONDON: Cocoa futures on ICE edged higher on Thursday, boosted by light speculative buying, while white sugar hovered just above 2-1/2 year lows set a day earlier as ample supplies weighed.
COCOA
July New York cocoa was up $12, or 0.5 percent, at$2,592 a tonne by 1146 GMT.
July London cocoa also rose 6 pounds, or 0.3 percent, to 1,779 pounds a tonne.
Dealers pointed to light-volume buying by speculators inspired by a positive close in the prior session.
They also noted a scarcity of high-quality Ivorian beans continued to lend support to nearby prices, with physical differentials strengthening further recently.
One dealer pegged the premium for quality Ivorian beans at about 100 pounds above the May contract, compared to a typical spread of 70 pounds.
"It's not a matter of volume here, it's a matter of quality," said one dealer. "There's a lack of good quality cocoa from the Ivory Coast."
However, dealers noted a broader surplus of global supplies and hedging by West African producers was capping gains and putting pressure on the forward positions in London.
Market participants were also awaiting first-quarter grind data from Europe and North America, due out next week, for signs of demand.
Dealers forecast European figures rising 2 to 4 percent. North American grindings were seen little changed, with forecasts ranging between a slight decline to modest growth of up to 2 percent.
SUGAR
August white sugar was down $0.60, or 0.2 percent, at $334.60, after touching a session low of $332.60.
Prices hit their lowest since August 2015 in the previous session.
Focus remained on ample global supplies from India and Thailand, although dealers said scale-down buying was putting a floor on prices.
May white sugar, which expires on Friday, rose $1, or 0.3 percent, to $347.20 per tonne.
The front-month premium over August widened to more than $12, with dealers noting this signalled sellers were hesitant to deliver at current prices.
May raw sugar fell 0.02, or 0.2 percent, to 12.04 cents per lb, after also touching a 2-1/2 year low on Wednesday.
COFFEE
May robusta coffee was down $1, or 0.1 percent, at $1,733 a tonne.
May arabica coffee was unchanged at $1.1815 per lb.
Brazil's 2018 coffee crop is likely to yield a record 60.5 million 60-kg bags, a large jump from 2017 due to favourable weather and the recovery of robusta output.
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