LONDON: White sugar futures on ICE rose on Monday, boosted by gains in global equity markets and crude oil, while London cocoa prices also climbed.

Trading in raw sugar, arabica coffee and New York cocoa contracts was closed on Monday for the US Presidents’ Day holiday.

May white sugar ended $3.80, or 0.8%, higher at $456.40 a tonne.

Dealers said supportive factors include a diminishing outlook for production in Thailand in the current 2020/21 season and India’s problems with exporting its surplus stocks because of a shortage of containers.

“The market continues to receive more bullish news than bearish, and the deep fundamentals of the market continue to seem to us to be bullish, or even very bullish. But maybe the flat price and the spreads have done enough for the time being. The market action feels a little weary,” Marex Financial analyst Robin Shaw said in a note.

A total of 511,750 tonnes of white sugar has been tendered against the March contract on ICE Futures Europe, exchange data showed on Monday.

May London cocoa settled 13 pounds, or 0.8%, higher at 1,662 pounds a tonne, climbing towards the middle of this month’s range of 1,643 to 1,700 pounds.

Dealers said the prospect for a substantial global surplus in the 2021/22 season should keep a lid on prices.

Ghana’s graded and sealed (G&S) cocoa arrivals since the start of this year’s harvest on Oct. 1 stood at 647,137 tonnes by Jan. 21, up 4.3% from 620,578 tonnes the previous season, figures from Ghana cocoa marketing board COCOBOD showed on Monday.

May robusta coffee ended down $11, or 0.8%, at $1,356 a tonne.

Dealers said the US holiday and Tet celebrations in top robusta producer Vietnam made for muted activity.—Reuters