Liffe May cocoa ended 47 pounds higher at 2,161 pounds a tonne on Monday after earlier rising to a six-month peak of 2,269 pounds. Prices soared after Ivory Coast's Alassane Outtara declared a month-long export ban although dealers said the initial surge in prices was overdone with the market set to remain well supplied.
Liffe March robusta coffee closes off $26 at $2,123 a tonne. Tracking setback in ICE arabicas with both markets seen technically overbought after recent advances.
Liffe March white sugar closes $5.50 higher at $796.20 per tonne. Market underpinned by uncertainty about India's sugar exports and heavy rainfall in Australia.
Dealers said cocoa prices were surging as the international market was thrown into turmoil on uncertainty over the potential impact of the call by Ouattara - internationally recognised as the victor of a November 28 election - given that incumbent Laurent Gbagbo controls the supply pipeline to ports.
Cargill has temporarily suspended cocoa bean purchases from top grower Ivory Coast, the US agribusiness company said in a statement on Monday.
"The headlines in Ivory Coast are attracting lots of speculative buying and fund buying," a London-based commodities trader said. "Until things get clearer, I would say we're going to be holding on to the gains of last week and today."
Ouattara, who is in a hotel guarded by UN troops, said in the statement on Sunday anyone contravening the ban would be liable to sanctions.
But Ouattara's power to enforce them was in question as Gbagbo, who has appointed an administration and rejected pressure to step down, was likely to do everything possible to facilitate exports to generate cash to pay the military and state workers.
Two European cocoa industry associations said on Monday they were still seeking clarification on the export ban, and cocoa exporters in Ivory Coast said they were conducting business as usual while awaiting clarity on the ban.
A European Union embargo on Ivory Coast cocoa trade is unlikely for now because of the potential cost to the country's population, a spokeswoman for the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Monday. Dealers said that if exporters follow Cargill and respect Ouattara's call for an export ban, there will be less availability of cocoa on the international market, which could send cocoa prices soaring.
"If (the ban) is enforced prices of cocoa will go through the roof," Gary Mead, analyst with the VM Group in London, said of Ouattara's call. "If he's serious, if they can enforce such a trade embargo, the disruption would be huge." But others were far more sanguine as they expected that beans would continue to flow despite the political impasse.
Romain Lathiere, a fund manager with Swiss-based Diapason Commodities Management, said: "In the end, the exporters are still going to be able to export. Cocoa will transit to Ghana, or other countries, and will still get out."
"On Friday we saw very strong buying, and the fact that prices have eased today is not a surprise," a London-based trader said.
News that leading sugar importer Russia could cut its sugar import tax in March has also helped March futures, said Nick Penney, analyst at Sucden Financial, in a note.
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