* March raw sugar rose 1.6% to 21.55 cents per lb by 1253 GMT after touching its highest since late 2016 at 21.66 cents.
* India, the world's second-largest sugar exporter, is
likely to produce 34 million tonnes of the sweetener in 2022/23, down 7% from the previous forecast, a leading trade body said, citing a weather-related drop in sugar cane yields in major producing states.
* Dealers said sugar prices were being boosted by that
production outlook coupled with concerns that top exporter
Brazil might also produce less if its energy policy makes
ethanol more lucrative than sugar.
* They added, however, that technical signals suggest the
market is moving close to over-bought territory.
* The premium for March raws over May peaked at
1.45 cents on Monday, matching Friday's peak and indicating
tight near-term supply.
* March white sugar rose 0.5% to $571.50 a tonne.
COFFEE
* March arabica coffee was little changed at $1.7035
cents per lb after touching the highest price since late
December at $1.7185.
* Dealers said arabica is being driven by a rise in some
Brazilian physical coffee premiums to their highest in a decade.
* This tight supply indicator and friendlier macroeconomic
sentiment has spooked short-selling speculators, they said.
* March robusta coffee rose 0.6% to $2,049 a tonne.
* Indonesia exported 16,152.89 tonnes of Sumatran robusta
coffee beans from Lampung province in December, down 51% from a
year earlier, data showed.
COCOA
* March New York cocoa fell 1% to $2,586 a tonne.
* Above-average rain in most of top grower Ivory Coast's
cocoa regions last week will boost the April to September
mid-crop after weeks of dry weather, farmers said
* March London cocoa fell 0.5% to 2,028 pounds per
tonne?.
(Reporting by Maytaal Angel
Editing by David Goodman
)
