White sugar futures on ICE edged higher on Thursday, as light buying lifted prices from 2-1/2-year lows touched a day earlier, while cocoa turned lower in rangebound dealings as prices hovered beneath recent highs. May raw sugar settled down 0.01 cent, or 0.1 percent, at 12.05 cents per lb, just above Wednesday's 2-1/2-year low of 11.93 cents.
August white sugar settled up $2.40, or 0.7 percent, at $337.60 per tonne, after falling to $332.60, near Wednesday's 2-1/2-year low of $332.30. The move lifted the premium of the spot white sugar contract over raws to as high as $85.68, the highest since July.
Scale-down buying prevented futures prices from falling below the 2-1/2-year lows reached in the prior two sessions, traders said. May white sugar, which expires on Friday, closed up 1 percent at $349.60 per tonne, with its premium reaching a session high of $14 over August, which dealers said signaled hesitancy by sellers to deliver at current prices. July New York cocoa settled down $16, or 0.62 percent, at $2,564 per tonne, near the 1-1/2-year high of $2,675 reached on April 2.
Prices were pressured by May/July spreading on the last day of the official index roll period, traders said. July London cocoa settled down 12 pounds, or 0.7 percent, at 1,761 pounds per tonne, hovering below the 15-month high of 1,854 tonnes reached on March 26. Prices were firm earlier, with traders noting a scarcity of high-quality Ivorian beans pushing physical differentials higher.
July arabica coffee settled down 0.25 cent, or 0.2 percent, at $1.20 per lb. The La Nina weather pattern is unlikely to take place through May, a US government weather forecaster said, adding to bearish sentiment, traders said.
July robusta coffee settled up $2, or 0.1 percent, at $1,736 per tonne.
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