LONDON, April 16: London white sugar futures rose to three-week contract highs on Monday on trade and speculative buying as the market digested a bullish delivery tonnage of 810,800 tons against the May expiry.

August was up $3.00 at $329.00 per ton in brisk volume of 1,925 lots at 1209 GMT, having moved from $330.00 to $326.50.

Dealers said the expiry, believed by traders to be an all-time high, signalled strong demand for physical white sugar, and trade sources said one leading merchant was believed to have received all of the sugar, which is mostly Thai.

It is a bullish expiry -- the fact that someone wants this stuff, a dealer said.

Traders noted recent talk of Iraqi and Libyan demand, but there was no immediate confirmation of Iraqi and Libyan tenders.—Reuters