LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE turned higher after hovering around the prior session's 10-year low on Thursday with the focus remaining on the potential for exports from top consumer India.
SUGAR
* October raw sugar was up 0.07 cents, or 0.7 percent, at 9.97 cents per lb by 1129 GMT, after equalling the prior session's 10-year low of 9.88 cents.
* Dealers said the market remained on the defensive following news that India's cabinet has approved higher cane payments for farmers as well as a host of measures to incentivise cash-strapped mills to export sugar to the world market.
* Commerzbank said India's government was keen to take measures which would help sugar producers, an important section of the electorate, ahead of next year's general election.
* "In so doing, however, it is also paving the way for continued overproduction," Commerzbank said, noting the world market was already amply supplied with sugar.
* Brazil said on Wednesday that Indian sugar export subsidies generate "serious concerns" in government and in the sugar industry, in a moment of oversupply and falling prices for the sweetener.
* December white sugar rose $0.80, or 0.3 percent, to $312.50 a tonne.
COFFEE
* November robusta coffee was down $8, or 0.5 percent, at $1,503 a tonne.
* Dealers said the market was underpinned by concerns that extended rains in Vietnam could hurt production in the world's top robusta producer.
* Vietnam's 2018/2019 coffee output is seen falling 2.3 percent on year to 1.71 million tonnes (28.5 mln 60-kg bags) due to rainfall and some coffee farmers switching to growing fruits, chairman of Vietnam Coffee Cocoa Association (Vicofa) said on Thursday.
* December arabica coffee fell 0.10 cent, or 0.1 percent, to 97.65 cents per lb.
COCOA
* December London cocoa rose 18 pounds, or 1.2 percent, to 1,557 pounds a tonne, regaining some ground after the prior session's fall to 1,537 pounds, the lowest for the contract since mid-February.
* Dealers said prospects for main crops in West Africa were still generally favourable while the threat of an El Nino weather pattern appeared to be receding.
* December New York cocoa climbed $23, or 1.1 percent, to $2,174 a tonne.
* The Ivory Coast government has removed private sector members from the board of the Coffee and Cocoa Council (CCC), its spokesman said on Wednesday, part of efforts to reform the cocoa sector by the world's largest producer.
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