International Exchange sugar futures held on Thursday as data showed that Brazil's sugar production, the largest producer in the second half of July, fell from a year earlier, but ethanol production jumped, although sugar prices still failed to close above the key 11 cents barrier.
In October, the original sugar futures closed 0.03 cents higher, or 0.3 %, and reported 10.84 cents per pound. The previous two days fell.
Sugar prices were boosted by industry reports that sugar production in south-central Brazil fell 23 per cent to 2.61 M tonnes in the second half of July from a year earlier, traders said.
Unica, the industry body, also reported a 25 per cent jump in ethanol production from a year earlier, higher than expected. Central and southern Brazil's sugar mills squeezed 47.34 million tons of sugar cane in the second half of July, compared with 44.87 million tons in the first half.

The price of raw sugar hovered above the three-year low of 10.37 cents it hit on August 2nd, but it failed to close above the key 11 cents barrier, a level traders said would attract technical buying.
Sugar prices have risen 11 cents in the past five trading days, but failed to close above that level.
Sugar futures rose $2.30, or 0.7 per cent, to $321.70 a tonne in October.

From: Kunshang Sugar Network