Cocoa eased, but stayed close to a 32-year peak as civil war in top grower Ivory Coast minimized losses. Sugar popped up from recent lows as investors covered short positions.
ICE's May arabica coffee futures climbed 5.60 cents to trade at $2.8675 a lb, having hit a 34-year intra-day top at $2.873.
The surge lifted London May robusta coffee $59 to end at 2,462 per tonne, after hitting a three-year top at $2,466.
"The overall picture in coffee is bullish ... because there's not much coffee left for sale," said Nick Gentile, head of trading for Atlantic Capital Advisors.
James Cordier, an analyst for brokers optionsellers.com in Florida, said a recovering global economy and stronger financial markets meant "that higher quality coffee won't be shunned."
He said supplies of high-quality arabica coffee beans remained "extremely tight" and with top coffee producer Brazil in better financial shape, "they're able to retain coffee and wait for higher prices, and doing a great job of it."
COCOA EYES IVORIAN CRISIS, SUGAR JUMPS
Cocoa futures stumbled although values stayed within hailing distance of 32-year highs as the market cautiously eyed the virtual civil war in leading producer Ivory Coast.
New York's May cocoa contract fell $29 to settle at $3,633 per tonne. Liffe's May cocoa contract shed 26 pounds to finish at 2,320 pounds per tonne.
Ivorian incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo has issued a decree under which the state becomes the sole purchaser of cocoa in the world's top producing country and handles its export to world markets.
"The upward move in cocoa prices is probably more of a nervous reaction (to the news)," said Kona Haque, analyst with Macquarie Bank in London.
Haque said Gbagbo's move would reassure Ivorian growers who could sell their crop to the authorities, but the impact for the export market remained unclear due to sanctions in force.
Jonathan Parkman, joint head of agriculture at Marex Financial Ltd, said: "He's (Gbagbo) putting pressure on the exporters (and) they're between a rock and a hard place.
Fundamentally, analysts said there is no shortage of cocoa beans. Cordier said "a lot of the rally in cocoa has been based on disturbances in Africa."
Gentile said cocoa beans are "being held hostage" in Ivory Coast and the situation needs to be resolved soon.
Sugar prices surged after managing to hold the lows for the day as investor short-covering stepped up in the market.
Gentile said the issue confronting sugar is that supplies are still running short of demand, with the cane harvest in Brazil's prime center-south region still a few weeks away.
New York's May raw sugar contract gained 0.67 cent to trade at 30.66 cents per lb. London's May white sugar futures rose $14.30 to finish at $763.10 per tonne.
Dealers talked of slack physical market activity due to high prices, with dealers tracking the pace of nominations by receiver Cargill to move almost one million tonnes of sugar delivered against expiry last month of the ICE March contract. Read More... For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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