LONDON: Raw sugar prices on ICE hit their highest levels in a week on short-covering and after data from top producer Brazil showed a fall in sugar output.
SUGAR
July raw sugar rose 0.09 cents, or 0.8pc, to 11.87 cents per lb at 1445 GMT, having hit a one-week high of 12.15 cents.
Sugar has found some support after falling to a low of 11.64 cents on Wednesday, its weakest since October 2018.
Mills in Brazil's main centre-south cane producing region produced 38pc less sugar in April, the first month of the new crop year, compared to the same month a year ago, industry group Unica said.
"Conab has said Brazil will produce 28-29 million tonnes (this season), others have said close to 30 million.
I don't know how we're going to produce that if we're already 40pc down," said a dealer.
Conab is Brazil's agricultural statistics agency.
Capping gains in sugar was the escalating trade war between the United States and China, while rising stocks in India also remain a bearish influence.
ICE August white sugar rose $1.1, or 0.3pc, to $325.80 a tonne.
COFFEE
July robusta coffee rose $5, or 0.4pc, to $1,350 a tonne, having hit its highest in nearly a week in the previous session.
On Wednesday robusta fell to a nine-year low of $1,267.
Brazil's green coffee exports totaled 2.717 million 60-kilo bags in April, up 30.3pc from the same period last year, industry group Cecafé said.
Dealers said bearish fundamentals remain as the Brazilian harvest gathers pace in an already oversupplied market.
"Yesterday's bounce will prove in the medium term to be just that - a bounce.
There's still not much appetite for buying this market," a dealer said.
July arabica coffee was flat at 90.85 cents per lb, pulling away from a 13-year low of 87.6 cents hit on Tuesday.
COCOA
July New York cocoa fell by $7, or 0.3pc, to $2,329 a tonne.
The cocoa market remains reasonably balanced, with production and demand both expected to rise in the 2018/19 season.
July London cocoa fell by 8 pounds, or 0.5pc, to 1,713 pounds a tonne.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 1,833,603 tonnes between Oct. 1 and April 30, up about 15pc from the same period last season.
Ivory Coast cocoa grinders processed 315,000 tonnes of beans by the end of April, up from 295,000 tonnes during the same period last season.
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