LONDON: Raw sugar prices on ICE touched an 8-1/2-month high on Tuesday, buoyed by signs the market is growing tighter and moving towards a wide deficit this season, while cocoa and coffee also rose.

March raw sugar firmed by 0.1 cents, or 0.7%, to 15.58 cents per lb by 1411 GMT after peaking at 15.66 cents, its highest since mid-February.

The International Sugar Organization is forecasting a global sugar deficit of 3.5 million tonnes in the 2020/21 season with the production outlook downgraded. It previously forecast a deficit of only 724,000 tonnes.

Dealers said they now expect supply tightness at least until the Brazilian harvest next year, regardless of what the Indian government decides to do about supporting sugar exports this season.

ICE sugar speculators cut their net long position by 954 contracts to 190,429 in the week ended Nov. 10, data showed.

March white sugar was up $1.90, or 0.5%, at $422.80 a tonne, having also hit an 8-1/2 month peak.

March arabica coffee rose 0.3 cents, or 0.2%, to $1.19 per lb after touching its highest since mid-September.

ICE coffee speculators switched to a net short position of 304 contracts in the week ended Nov. 10, cutting 2,906 contracts, data showed.

US green coffee stocks fell by 264,937 bags to 6.1 million 60kg bags by the end of October. January robusta coffee fell $14, or 1%, to $1,426 a tonne, having hit its highest since early September.

March New York cocoa rose $76, or 3.1%, to $2,511 a tonne, underpinned by tightness in ICE warehouse stocks, improved demand prospects and unrest in top producer Ivory Coast.

March London cocoa was up 47 pounds, or 2.8%, at 1,703 pounds a tonne.—Reuters