LONDON, Aug 31: London white sugar futures rose on trade and speculator buying at midday on Wednesday amid sentiment that supplies are tight, traders said. Front-month October touched a new contract high of $313.00 per ton, up $2.00 or 0.64 per cent, in volume of 987 lots, having moved from $313.00 to $309.50.

December was up $3.00 at $296.50 per ton in volume of 419 lots, after trading from $296.50 to $293.40.

There is talk that Iraq has been sniffing around, and that could explain why the market went up yesterday and today, a trader said.

Traders said soaring energy prices, driven up by shutdowns in oil and gas production due to Hurricane Katrina, could also be underpinning white sugar futures to an extent, although the United States raws market would likely feel the brunt.

Germany’s 2005/06 sugar beet harvest will fall to 25.5 million tons from 27.1 million tons in 2004/05, the country’s Agriculture Ministry said in its first harvest estimate on Wednesday.—Reuters