Arabica coffee futures climbed to a fresh 13-1/2 year high on Thursday, and robusta also hit a multi-year peak, bolstered by a shortage of high quality beans and strength across agricultural commodities. Raw sugar futures slumped, erasing all their gains from a cyclone-fuelled rally, while cocoa futures climbed on growing havoc in the cocoa industry of top grower Ivory Coast.
ICE March arabicas jumped to $2.5360 a lb, their highest since June 1997, and stood 1.9 cent or 0.8 percent firmer at $2.5255 per lb at 1603 GMT. ICE March raw sugar fell 1.36 cents or 3.9 percent to 33.95 cents a lb after soaring more than 4 percent to a 30-year high of 36.08 cents a lb on Wednesday ICE benchmark March cocoa rose $11 or 0.3 percent to $3,363 per tonne, below last week's one-year peak of $3,420 per tonne.