Sugar climbed for a fourth day in London to a six-week high as output dropped in top producer Brazil amid signs of stronger global demand. Cocoa advanced. Sugar output in the main Brazilian producing region slumped 17 percent to 1.55 million metric tons in May’s first half from a year earlier, industry group Unica said yesterday. Mexico and the European Union increased import allowances this week, while demand is building in Muslim countries before Ramadan. “Brazil’s slow start of the crop, reiterated and confirmed by the last report of Unica, continues to chew over the sugar market,” Naim Beydoun, a broker at Swiss Sugar Brokers in Rolle, Switzerland, wrote in a report today. “Sugar is lagging 2 million tons behind last year’s output for the same period.” White, or refined, sugar for August delivery gained $3.60, or 0.6 percent, to $653.60 a ton by 9:33 a.m. on NYSE Liffe in London. Prices reached $655.40, the highest level since April 13. Raw sugar for July delivery rose 0.04 cent, or 0.2 percent, to 22.73 cents a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Brazilian production fell on a combination of lower yields, harvest delays and use of a greater portion of raw material to make ethanol instead of sugar. “With sugar yields down and demand for ethanol still high, we can imagine that sugar production will continue to trail year-ago levels for several weeks,” Luis Rangel, vice president of commodity derivatives at ICAP Futures LLC, wrote in a report yesterday. “We continue to look for higher prices in the short term.” Tunisian Purchase Tunisia bought 18,000 tons of white sugar and 14,000 tons of raw sweetener in a tender yesterday, Khaled Ksouri, a purchasing manager at the Tunisian Office for Trade, said by phone. Mexico boosted sugar-import quotas by 150,000 tons and EU nations voted to import a further 200,000 tons of raw or refined sweetener at zero duty. Cocoa for July delivery advanced 10 pounds, or 0.5 percent, to 1,859 pounds ($3,054) a ton on NYSE Liffe. Cocoa for July delivery climbed $28, or 0.9 percent, to $3,038 a ton on ICE. Robusta coffee for July delivery slipped $1 to $2,599 a ton in London. Arabica coffee for July delivery was little changed at $2.655 a pound in New York. To contact the reporter on this story: Isis Almeida in London at ialmeida3@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.

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