Fund buying helped push arabica coffee to break above $2.00 a lb to a 13-year high early on Thursday and robusta coffee hit a two-year high on Thursday, with both markets underpinned by supply concerns. ICE sugar and cocoa were higher in technical trading, dealers said.
The coffee market's strong recent performance led to system fund buying while crop concerns in top robusta producer Vietnam and arabica exporter Colombia had also helped to fuel the run up, dealers said. ICE December arabica coffee futures traded up 4.85 cent or 2.5 percent at $2.0160 a lb at 1527 GMT, after peaking at $2.0315 a lb earlier in the session.
ICE raw sugar futures were firm, hitting a fresh nine-month peak of 29.23 cents a lb before easing, supported by talk of Brazilian buy backs due to a domestic price rally in Brazil, dealers said. ICE March raw sugar futures traded up 0.37 cent or 1.3 percent at 29.17 cents a lb. ICE December cocoa up $51 or 1.8 percent at $2,827 per tonne.