ICE cocoa futures were slightly lower early on Thursday after a surprising drop in Europe's third-quarter cocoa grind, while sugar rose in choppy trade and arabica coffee firmed. ICE March cocoa was down $4 or 0.2 percent at $2,890 per tonne at 1510 GMT. ICE raw sugar edged up towards this week's eight-month high of 28.04 cents a lb.
ICE March raw sugar futures traded up 0.16 cent or 0.6 percent at 27.66 cents a lb. ICE arabica prices extended recent gains, edging toward the 13-year high of $1.9895 hit last month, supported by tight supplies of high quality coffee. ICE March arabica coffee futures were up 0.75 cent or 0.4 percent at $1.8830 a lb.