London sugar futures ended weaker on Tuesday in spread-related business but dealers said the overall market remained supported.
Front-month March closed 40 cents down at $191.00 a tonne, having moved between $192.90 and $190.50 on 2,517 lots from total turnover of 7,919 lots.
May slipped 10 cents to $194.80 on 3,602 lots.
The March-May spread was quoted around a $3.00 to $3.50 discount from a $1.50 to $2.00 discount on Monday.
"It has mainly been switch trading today and there was good two way trading on the March-May. The funds and the trade are on both sides of the spread and they have been rolling longs and shorts," one dealer said.
"People are still friendly to the May and nothing has really changed it is just a case of operators jockeying their positions."
Traders and analysts said high freight rates had tightened supplies of high-grade refined sugar as it was making it expensive for refineries to import raw sugar.
"The whites to raws premium has increased by $15 in two months and normally refineries would churn out more whites," an analyst said.
"But due to higher freight rates, it has not been profitable to do so. This is leading to tighter supplies of refined sugar, which is helping keep London steady."
Dealers said the front spread in London would continue to remain choppy in the run-up to the March contact's expiry on February 13.
"We may see the March-May widen to flat coming close to expiry," the analyst said.
Traders said the funds would be a key driver on the London and New York markets.
Technical analysts support on March at $189.50/$189.40 was expected to hold after the market was pressured on Monday by trade selling.
Further support was seen at $186.50, with resistance pegged at $193.40 and $194.60.
Analysts saw pressure in the coming months due to surplus global stocks and a lack of strong demand.
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