London, Feb 3 - Sugar futures rose on light investor buying on Tuesday as the market digested news that India will allow duty-free raw sugar imports for domestic sale.
Cocoa edged up on short-covering and appeared to ignore bearish data on bean arrivals in top grower Ivory Coast, while coffee futures were little changed in thin, routine rollover business.
Dealers said the Indian sugar import news was expected and had no immediate market impact.
"Everyone's been talking about this for a long time," said David Sadler, a senior sugar futures dealer.
India's decision to allow the duty-free imports of raw sugar will increase purchases from Brazil and squeeze many domestic mills, but may ease prices ahead of elections.
The global sugar trade had keenly awaited the decision. It expects that the country will buy 1.0 million to 1.5 million tonnes of sugar, which will support prices.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday that the government had approved the new import regime, called "tonne to tonne" by officials and traders.
It allows duty-free imports for local sale on the condition that a similar quantity of domestic refined sugar is exported within two years.
European sugar dealers also noted news on Tuesday that Pakistan had authorised a state trading agency to import 200,000 tonnes of refined sugar, to meet an expected shortfall this year.
ICE March raw sugar futures rose 0.25 cent to 13.00 cents per lb at 1310 GMT, while London March white sugar rose $5.1 to $385.0 per tonne in modest volume of 1,765 lots.
Cocoa futures rose on trade and investor short covering in slim volumes, appearing to ignore apparently cocoa bean arrivals data from Ivory Coast.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast held up well over the past week and the weather was favourable, fuelling optimism for a strong end to the October-March main crop after a poor start to the season.
"One or two weeks of fair figures does not make for a bumper crop yet," one London cocoa dealer said.
The London market got an early lift from a weaker pound, dealers said. A softer pound makes it cheaper to buy positions in sterling-denominated futures in alternative currencies.
"There was a bit of nominal support, and that promoted light short covering higher," a dealer said.
ICE March cocoa futures rose $12 a tonne to $2,732 a tonne at 1313 GMT, while London May cocoa rose 7 pounds to 1,960 pounds a tonne in moderate turnover of 1,574 lots.
Coffee futures were little changed on light two-way investor dealings in thin routine rollover trade activity, dealers said.
ICE March arabicas fell 0.35 cent to $1.1940 per lb at 1317 GMT, while London March rose $4 to $1,678 per tonne in light volume of 1,101 lots.
Coffee trade in Vietnam is expected to pick up this week as traders and farmers return from the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, but with current low prices, sales are forecast to remain limited, dealers said on Tuesday.
Coffee exports from Costa Rica fell 15.15 percent in January to 119,340 60-kg bags, the national coffee institute Icafe said on Monday.
Coffee exports from Honduras rose 17.3 percent in January to 378,983 60-kg bags, the national coffee institute said on Monday.