London white sugar futures closed firmer on Thursday after a session dominated by spread trading before expiry of the March contract on Friday, and traders said they expected modest deliveries against the expiry. March settled up $2.70 at $271.60 a tonne in volume of 5,247 lots, having moved between $272.0 and $268.0. May ended up $3.30 at $277.0 in volume of 5,626 lots, after trading between $277.60 and $273.10.
"There has been a lot of rolling - March, May and August - and a lot of book squaring, and producer selling of the May," one trader said.
Traders said they expected moderate deliveries of white sugar against expiry of March on Friday. The tonnage is expected to be published on Liffe's website on Friday afternoon.
US sugar brokers said on Thursday they were not sure if Pakistan was done buying raw sugar for now after booking an order for 200,000 tonnes of the unrefined sweetener.
Pakistan had announced it would buy 250,000 tonnes of raw sugar in the first half of the year, and the brokers were wondering when the South Asian country would buy the remaining 50,000 tonnes.
Separately, Cuba is not expected to become a sustained importer of sugar after drought hammered its current cane crop, US-based sweetener sources said on Thursday.
COFFEE FIRMS: London coffee futures were range bound on Thursday in modest volume, deadlocked between producer selling and trade buying, dealers said.
"There is a bit of origin selling above the market but the trade buying is $10 below (the market) and the market is just marking time," one trader said.
By 1121 GMT Liffe's March futures nudged up $1 to trade at $826 a tonne after ranging between $831 and $825 on volume of 751 lots. May rose $1 to $852 in a $857-851 range amid turnover of 1,030 lots.
Most-active November banked $6 to trade at $914 with 1,183 lots traded. A total of 3,121 lots changed hands with technical activity in spread trading and trade Against Actuals bloating the volume.
Floor sources said at least 400 lots of March/November spreads changed hands at a differential of $84, a volume matched by trade in May/November spreads at $56. Trade in Against Actuals in November accounted for at least 380 lots.
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