LONDON: White sugar futures rose to a 3-1/2 month high on Monday as the market extended the prior session's sharp advance, buoyed by recent strength in crude oil and concerns about dry weather in top exporter Brazil.
US-based raw sugar, New York cocoa and arabica coffee markets were closed on Monday for Presidents' Day.
SUGAR
May white sugar was up $2.50, or 0.7 percent, at $357.20 a tonne at 1236 GMT after peaking at $359.40, a 3-1/2 month high for the front month.
Dealers said the market was supported by a diminished outlook for sugar production in the key Centre-South region of Brazil this year due partly to a lack of rainfall in January and the first half of this month.
"A relatively poor sugar supply from CS Brazil this year is on the cards," analyst Robin Shaw of Marex Spectron said in a market update.
He added, however, that sugar could not sustain a major rally.
"There is simply too much extra supply which will occur if sugar prices rally substantially - much more sugar from CS Brazil if sugar prices are above the ethanol parity, and much more exports out of India if world prices rise," he said.
Some mills in Brazil switch between producing either sugar or biofuel ethanol depending on relative profitability.
French sugar group Tereos, which has been hit by a slump in the sugar market, said on Monday it had secured a loan that would give the co-operative a financial reprieve as it hopes for a rebound in prices.
COFFEE
May robusta coffee fell $6, or 0.4 percent, to $1,549 a tonne.
Dealers said ample supplies continued to keep a lid on prices which remain very close to end-2018 levels.
Vietnam, the world's top robusta producer, exported 183,693 tonnes of coffee in January, customs data showed on Monday, higher than the government's estimate of 175,000 tonnes.
COCOA
May London cocoa was up 7 pounds, or 0.4 percent, at 1,767 pounds a tonne.
Warehouse deliveries of cocoa from Brazil's main growing regions and from imports were up 9 percent from May 1 to February 10 compared with the same period a year earlier, Bahia Commercial Association data showed.
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