London white sugar futures closed higher on Thursday, boosted by a pick-up in physical demand and strength in other commodity markets, dealers said. Benchmark August was up $6.3 at $449.5 per tonne after trading in a range of $451 to $444.2.
Total volume was 7,850 lots.
"Everything else picked up, the stock market, oil, stuff like that and there is also some decent offtake in whites," one dealer said.
Dealers said Bangladesh, Russia, Egypt and Cuba are among buyers who have entered the market in recent days.
Bangladesh will import 37,500 tonnes of white sugar to stabilise the volatile domestic market, officials of the state-owned Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) said on Thursday.
Libya's state commodities import firm denied on Thursday market talk that the North African country was planning to import 125,000 tonnes of sugar.
The European Union sold 12,000 tonnes of white sugar at a maximum rebate of 31.288 euros per 100 kg at Thursday's tender, EU data showed.
COCOA HIGHER:
London cocoa futures ended up on Thursday with the front-month hitting a contract record as funds tried to cover short positions, dealers said.
July cocoa traded as much as 32 pounds over second-month September, up from a discount of 10 to 12 pounds at the end of May.
The benchmark September contract settled up 12 pounds, or 1.37 percent, at 887 pounds a tonne after trading between 890 and 877 pounds. Total volume was 25,708 lots.
"The funds were short this time and they ran out of space, they don't have the cocoa to deliver," one dealer said.
"There is trade related selling on behalf of origin and the (July) premium is keeping the market up," another dealer said.
Some traders said Ghana had been seen to sell.
"This is a dream situation for origin, who were desperate to get their cocoa priced but not at the level we were at previously," one of the traders said.
Swollen shoot disease is infecting cocoa trees in Ivory Coast's central growing regions and could hit output in the world's top producer if allowed to spread unchecked, researchers said on Thursday.
COFFEE SOARS:
London robusta coffee futures ended up on Thursday on fund buying and short covering, which triggered buy stops, dealers said.
The benchmark September contract settled up $30, or 2.60 percent, at $1,185 a tonne after trading between $1,192 and $1,150. Total volume was 16,583 lots.
"There was fund buying and day traders which triggered some buy stops ... There was also some fund short covering," one dealer said.
The dealer added there was some origin selling when the session neared the day's highs.
September arabica was up 0.85 cent at 99.50 cents per lb in New York at 1407 GMT.
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