Raw sugar edges higher; cocoa and coffee up

Raw sugar futures edged higher on Monday, though the market continued to lack a clear overall trend, while cocoa and coffee also advanced.
March raw sugar was up 0.07 cents, or 0.6 percent, at 12.67 cents a lb at 1451 GMT.
Dealers said the market continued to drift in a narrow band with a significant rise in prices likely to trigger exports from India, where stocks have been climbing, and a switch to using more cane for sugar rather than ethanol in Brazil.
"The market lacks any fundamental impetus to break higher or lower for now," Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said in a market note.
India's production is expected to remain above consumption in 2019/20, with farmers unlikely to turn away from cane despite the high level of arrears owed to them by mills.
India's cane farmers are owed 200 billion rupees ($2.8 billion) by mills after refined sugar prices dropped below the cost of production, a leading trade body said on Monday.
"Even if arrears stay as high as they are, cane still gives farmers a better return than other crops (and history tells us the millers have always ended up paying the arrears in the end)," Marex Spectron analyst Robin Shaw said in a report.
Speculators increased their bearish stance in raw sugar futures and options on ICE Futures US in the week to Dec. 24, US government data showed in a report delayed by the government shutdown.
March white sugar fell by $0.50, or 0.15 percent, to $337.30 a tonne.
May London cocoa was up 21 pounds, or 1.3 percent, at 1,628 pounds a tonne.
The market has regained some ground after finding support last week around a seven-week low of 1,585 pounds.
"The band of support at 1,580/1,600 (pounds a tonne) has held firm and this could provide a platform for higher prices," said Sucden Financial technical analyst Geordie Wilkes.
May New York cocoa rose $37, or 1.7 percent, to $2,246 a tonne.
March robusta coffee was up $9, or 0.68 percent, at $1,556 a tonne.
Dealers said activity in the physical market was likely to be slow this week as top robusta producer Vietnam celebrates the Tet Lunar New Year holiday.
March arabica coffee was up 1.75 cents, or 1.7 percent, at $1.0545 per lb.