NEW YORK, Sept 29: Speculators in US sugar futures have built up a net long position in New York-traded futures of the commodity for the first time in six-weeks as prices neared 2-month highs, trade data on Friday showed.

Speculative net longs in New York-traded coffee, cocoa and cotton also rose this week as those soft commodities saw higher prices as well, the data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) showed.

The noncommercial, or speculative, net position in New York raw sugar futures reached a net long of 1,325 lots in the week to Sept 25, from a net short of 49,606 lots in the week to Sept. 18, the CFTC said in its Commitment of Traders report.

Benchmark raw sugar coffee for October delivery on New York’s ICE Futures US rose to 9.97 cents a lb during pit trading on Sept. 25, its highest level since Aug 7.

Institutional funds invested in New York raw sugar futures through commodity indexes also showed a stronger net long position in the week to Sept 25.

The CITs’ net long position in raw sugar rose to 251,844 lots from a previous 243,980 lots.

— Reuters