Raw sugar edges higher as crude oil prices climb

LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE rose on Tuesday, boosted by gains in crude oil with the recent strength in energy prices helping to drive demand for biofuel ethanol, particularly in Brazil.

Strong demand for ethanol can lead to more use of cane to produce the biofuel rather than sugar and help reduce supply of the sweetener.

Sugar

March raw sugar was 0.3% higher at 19.27 cents per lb by 1218 GMT.

Dealers said data issued by cane industry group UNICA earlier this week, which showed sales of hydrous ethanol in Brazil's domestic market had begun to climb in the first half of December, provided evidence that rising gasoline prices were prompting motorists to switch to using more ethanol.

March white sugar rose 0.2% to $504.20 a tonne.

Coffee and sugar prices rise as commodities climb

Coffee

March robusta coffee fell 0.2% to $2,349 a tonne, slipping further from last week's 10-year high of $2,381.

Dealers said the robusta market was partly adjusting to losses in New York arabica futures on Monday.

London-based robusta coffee was closed on Monday.

The robusta market continued to be underpinned, however, by short-term tightness with supply chain issues slowing the flow of supplies from top robusta producer Vietnam.

Front month January was trading at a premium of around $109 to March.

March arabica coffee were down 0.1% at $2.2685 per lb after falling by 1.8% on Monday.

Speculators trimmed their bullish bets in arabica coffee futures on ICE US in the week to Dec. 21, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed on Monday.

Cocoa

March London cocoa rose 0.2% to 1,683 pounds a tonne.

Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast since the start of the season in October are estimated to have reached 1 million tonnes by Dec. 26, exporters said on Monday, down 5.9% from the same period last season.

March New York cocoa was up 0.8% at $2,480 a tonne.