LONDON: Raw sugar futures rose on Wednesday, boosted by sharp gains in crude oil and many other commodity markets, while cocoa prices also climbed.

SUGAR

May raw sugar rose 0.9% to 19.32 cents per lb by 1500 GMT with the market boosted by a sharp rise in crude oil prices.

Higher energy prices can prompt cane mills in Brazil to divert output from sugar to ethanol, a cane-based fuel.

Dealers said, however, the market continued to hold within a range of around 18.50 cents to 19.50 cents with improving outlooks for production in India and Thailand helping to keep a lid on prices.

“Thai sugar output is significantly higher than the production seen over the past two years when drought hit the cane crop,” ING said in a note, adding that output had, however, yet to reach a peak of more than 14 million tonnes reached in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

May white sugar rose 0.3% to $548.60 a tonne.

COCOA

May London cocoa rose 1.6% to 1,749 pounds a tonne after climbing to a one-week high of 1,758 pounds.

Dealers said the outlook on price charts was becoming more bullish following the market’s recent gains

“Indicators point to higher prices, but prices need to break above near term resistance to confirm this,” broker Sucden Financial said in a note.

May New York cocoa rose 1.6% to $2,628 a tonne.

COFFEE

May arabica coffee rose 0.7% to $2.2660 per lb. May robusta coffee fell 1.5% to $2,137 a tonne.