Raw sugar futures on ICE rose on Monday while white sugar set a 2-1/2 year peak, boosted by talk of supply tightness at a key industry conference in Dubai.
Arabica coffee steadied, meanwhile, and London cocoa edged away from a three-year peak his last week.
March raw sugar settled up 0.12 cent, or 0.8%, at 15.04 cents per lb, climbing back toward the two-year high of 15.13 cents set last week.
March white sugar was up $1.80, or 0.4%, at $429.90 a tonne after touching a 2-1/2 year high of $433.40.
Chinese commodities trader COFCO said in Dubai that it does not expect recovery in Thailand's sugar crop any time soon, with production in 2019/20 likely to fall 28% to a nine-year low of 10.5 million tonnes.
Other conference participants said early indications for next year suggest another poor Thai crop, while trading house Louis Dreyfus called for more Brazilian production.
Thailand is the world's second-largest sugar exporter and a key source of supply for delivery against ICE white sugar futures.
Raw sugar speculators on ICE cut their net long position by 7,955 contracts to 77,637 in the week ended Feb. 4, bucking expectations, CFTC data showed.
Dealers said while there was some concern that funds are not buying more - probably because of macro factors such as the coronavirus outbreak - the market is overall enjoying a conference bounce and is likely to head higher in the near term.
Analyst Green Pool cut its forecast for Thai sugar production this year to 9.55 million tonnes, down sharply from last season's 14.57 million tonnes.
May arabica coffee settled up at 1.6 cents per lb, or 1.5% at $1.0210 per lb, pulling away from a 3-1/2 month low set last week.
Arabica speculators on ICE switched to a net short position of 2,097 contracts in the week ended Feb. 4, cutting 8,627 contracts, CFTC data showed.
May robusta fell $5, or 0.5%, to $1,285 a tonne, having hit a three-month low of $1,280.
May London cocoa settled down 5 pounds, or 0.3%, at 2,040 pounds a tonne after touching a three-year peak of 2,074 pounds on Friday.
May New York cocoa settled down $20, or 0.7%, to $2,878 a tonne after peaking at a near two year high of $2,935 on Friday.
Cocoa speculators on ICE raised their net long position by 2,819 contracts to 34,296 in the week ended Feb. 4.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached 1.378 million tonnes between Oct. 1 and Jan. 31, down 0.6% from the same period the previous season. There was no rainfall last week in most of Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions, extending a spell of hot, dry weather that could weaken the looming mid-crop harvest.


















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