LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE crept higher on Friday but gains were capped by the prospect of a second consecutive global surplus in the 2018/19 season.
SUGAR
March raw sugar was up 0.08 cent, or 0.6 percent, at 13.45 cents per lb by 1201 GMT.
Dealers said a short covering rally had helped the market pull away from a 3-1/2 month low of 13.02 cents set on Jan. 18 but producer selling was likely to limit the scope for any rebound in prices.
The world sugar market is poised for a larger surplus than previously expected in the 2017/18 season, likely followed by another year of oversupply, a Reuters survey of 12 traders and analysts showed.
"Perspective for sugar remains heavy for now with large production prospects, leading to growing stocks and a subsequent increase in export availability, or a decrease in imports. This will ultimately lower the range," Sucres and Denrees Group (Sucden) said in a quarterly report.
March white sugar rose $0.10, or 0.03 percent, to $355.70 per tonne.
India's sugar output is likely to jump 33 percent from a year ago to 27 million tonnes in the 2017/18 marketing year, giving the world's second-biggest producer enough surplus for overseas sales, Rahil Shaikh, managing director of ED&F Man India, said on Friday.
COCOA
May London cocoa rose 4 pounds or 0.3 percent to 1,425 pounds a tonne. Prices have rebounded strongly from a low last week of 1,354 pounds.
"Trading volumes have improved on the upside indicating appetite for higher prices but we await a break of firm resistance to help confirm the outlook," Sucden Financial technical analyst Geordie Wilkes said in a daily update.
Wilkes saw resistance at 1,440 and 1,470 pounds.
Dealers also cited a diminished outlook for output in Ghana as a supportive factor.
Ghana's cocoa purchases fell between October and mid-January compared to last season and it may miss its full-season output target because of dry weather, senior regulatory sources said.
March New York cocoa climbed $2, or 0.1 percent, to$2,019 a tonne.
COFFEE
March arabica coffee fell 0.70 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $1.2070 per lb.
Honduran coffee exports grew 32 percent in January compared with the same month last year as delayed December shipments were released following a disputed election that provoked highway blockades, national coffee institute IHCAFE said on Thursday.
March robusta coffee was down $6 or 0.3 percent, at $1,763 a tonne.
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