LONDON: Raw sugar futures edged higher on Friday as the market pulled further away from last week's 10-year low while cocoa prices regained some ground after the previous session's sharp fall.
Raw sugar, arabica coffee and New York cocoa contracts will be closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
SUGAR
October raw sugar rose 0.03 cents, or 0.3 percent, to 10.60 cents per lb by 1423 GMT.
Prices have rebounded during the past few days after slumping to a 10-year low of 9.91 cents on Aug. 22.
Dealers said that a strong close on Thursday had helped to generate chart-based buying.
The scope for any major recovery in prices could be limited by excess supplies, though the extent of the surplus may be curbed by diminishing crop outlooks in the European Union and Brazil.
French sugar cooperative group Tereos said on Thursday that crop samples put this year's sugar beet yield at 61.8 tonnes per hectare, below the five-year average.
October white sugar was down $0.60, or 0.2 percent, at $323.70 a tonne.
COFFEE
December arabica coffee was down 0.05 cents, or 0.1 percent, at $1.0260 per lb, with the market holding just above a 12-year low of 99.35 cents set last week.
The downside trend remains firmly intact, said Sucden Financial technical analyst Geordie Wilkes, adding that he expects this to continue in the near term.
Dealers said that a huge crop in Brazil this year has helped to drive down coffee prices, but the prospects for next year's harvest appear less favourable.
An early flowering in parts of Brazil's coffee fields in recent days is seen hurting quality and possibly the volume of next year's arabica crop, though robusta output is likely to be unaffected, market participants and researchers said.
November robusta coffee fell $8, or 0.5 percent, to $1,514 a tonne.
Coca-Cola Co has agreed to buy coffee chain Costa for $5.1 billion including debt to extend its push into healthier drinks and take on the likes of Starbucks and Nestle in the booming global coffee market.
COCOA
December New York cocoa was up $29, or 1.3 percent, at $2,304 a tonne, regaining some ground after Thursday's steep decline.
December London cocoa was up 18 pounds, or 1.1 percent, at 1,677 pounds a tonne.
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