London sugar futures closed higher on trade buying in light volumes on Friday, with many traders absent for London sugar week, dealers said.
December settled up $2.1 at $238.6 a tonne in low volume of 679 lots, having moved in a $238.6-235.5 range.
March settled up $2.8 at $255.0 in volume of 315 lots.
"There has been some trade buying today, but volume has been light because of sugar week in London," one trader said.
India's sugar import requirement in 2004/05 is estimated to stand at around 1.5 million tonnes, the country's leading buyer S.L. Jain, member secretary of the Indian Sugar Exim Corporation (ISEC), said on the sidelines of London sugar week on Friday.
On Thursday, Vinay Kumar, managing director of India's National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd, told Reuters that India's import requirements were around one million tonnes in 2003/04.
India, the world's biggest sugar consumer, had a dismal sugar harvest in 2003/04 and is expecting another poor crop in 2004/05 because of drought. Many analysts expect the country to raise sugar imports in the coming months as stocks fall.