LONDON: Raw sugar futures were higher on Monday boosted by a surge in the crude oil market, while coffee prices also advanced but cocoa was slightly lower.
SUGAR
March raw sugar was up 0.20 cents, or 1.6 percent, at 13.04 cents per lb by 1227 GMT.
Dealers said the rise in energy prices was supportive, making it more likely that cane would be used to produce biofuel ethanol in Brazil rather than sugar.
"We need some extra sugar (above the minimum which would be produced if all Centre-South Brazil mills produce min sugar/max ethanol next year), but we don't need all of it, therefore the sugar price cannot stray far from the ethanol parity next year," Marex Spectron analyst Robin Shaw said in a market note.
* Oil prices jumped by more than 5 percent on Monday after the United States and China agreed to a 90-day truce in a trade dispute, and ahead of a meeting this week of the producer club OPEC that is expected to cut supply.
* Brazilian sugar companies are increasing their capacity to produce ethanol in the face of depressed global sugar prices and government policies expected to boost demand for the biofuel.
* Speculators increased their net short position in raw sugar on ICE Futures US in the week to Nov. 27, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Friday.
* March white sugar rose $3.30, or 1 percent, to $351.50 a tonne.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee was up 1.55 cents, or 1.4 percent, at $1.0910 per lb.
* Dealers said the market was supported by a strengthening in the currency of top producer Brazil. which helped it regain some ground after a sharp decline on Friday.
* A stronger Brazilian currency discourages producer selling because it reduces local returns on dollar-traded commodities like coffee.
* March robusta coffee rose $14, or 0.9 percent, to$1,613 a tonne.
* Robusta coffee speculators switched to a net long on ICE Futures Europe in the week to Nov. 27, according to exchange data.
COCOA
* March London cocoa was down 2 pounds, or 0.1 percent, at 1,618 pounds a tonne, underpinned by the weakness of sterling.
* March New York cocoa fell $14, or 0.6 percent, to $2,189 a tonne.
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