Raw sugar futures on ICE rose on Thursday after finding support around the prior session's one-month low, while arabica coffee prices also climbed on declining exchange stocks.
Sugar
* July raw sugar SBc1 rose 0.6% at 18.57 cents per lb by 1502 GMT. The front month had dipped to a one-month low of 18.38 cents on Wednesday.
* Dealers said buying interest picked up around the prior session's low, with the market dipping to 18.39 cents before rebounding strongly.
* The market continued to digest proposed tax changes in Brazil, which would lead mills to use more cane to make sugar rather than biofuel ethanol. However, the exact impact remains unclear.
* Brazil's Lower House on Wednesday passed a bill creating a ceiling on state taxes levied on fuel and other items, which will now go to President Jair Bolsonaro to sign into law, as part of efforts to tackle high inflation.
* "Analysts are already adding more Brazil sugar to their market balance estimates," Commonwealth Bank of Australia, analyst, Tobin Gorey, said.
* Gorey said, however, the government was also committing to cut taxes on biofuels to help with their competitiveness with fossil fuels so the overall impact of these moves remained unclear.
* August white sugar LSUc1 fell 0.75% to $556.30 a tonne.
Coffee
* September arabica coffee KCc2 rose 1% to $2.3075 per lb, with the market supported by declining ICE certified arabica stocks and strong differentials in the physical market.
* Commodity traders are shipping arabica coffee from Europe-based ICE futures exchange warehouses to the United States, five trade sources told Reuters, reflecting the impact of erratic weather on global supply that could raise costs for the popular drink. * September robusta coffee LRCc2 rose 0.3% to $2,062 a tonne.
Cocoa
* September New York cocoa CCc2 rose 0.04% to $2,378 a tonne, hovering above the prior session's 6-1/2 month low of $2,344.
* September London cocoa LCCc2 fell 1.4% to 1,715 pounds per tonne, weighed down partly by a firmer pound.
News by Reuters, edited by Donna Ahern, Checkout. For more Supply Chain stories, click here. Click subscribe to sign up for the Checkout print edition.
