NEW YORK/LONDON - ICE raw sugar futures rose on Wednesday, boosted partly by a slow start to the 2019/20 cane crushing season in India, while arabica and robusta coffee gained as funds scaled back bearish positions.

SUGAR

* March raw sugar SBH0 settled up 0.06 cent, or 0.47%, at 12.75 cents per lb.

* Indian sugar mills produced 485,000 tonnes of the sweetener between Oct. 1 and Nov. 15, down from 1.34 million tonnes last year, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said in a statement on Wednesday. 

* Dealers said that while the sugar harvest had gotten off to a slower start this year, it was too early to draw conclusions about the outlook for the whole season with the second-largest producing state, Maharashtra, yet to start its crushing season.

* They noted the market continued to lack a clear overall trend after failing to break to the upside last week when the March contract hit 12.91 cents, its highest since early October.

* The recent decline in Brazil's real BRL= to a record low against the dollar has helped to keep a lid on the market.

* "Such a parity encourages Brazilian producers to accelerate export sales in dollars to benefit from a positive exchange rate effect," analyst Agritel said in a market note.

* March white sugar LSUc1 settled up 60 cents, or 0.18%, at $336.6 per tonne.

COFFEE

* March arabica coffee KCc2 rose 2.45 cents, or 2.3%, to $1.0855 per lb, recouping most of the prior session's losses.

* Dealers said supplies were tightening with a global deficit generally forecast for the 2019/20 season, an off-year in Brazil's biennial crop cycle.

* Funds have scaled back a net short position in the last few weeks, although the market's contango structure means that the rolling forward of short positions remains profitable.

* "There's been an enormous fund short position that is now being liquidated, and from here it means the funds can sell a lot more and get shorter or they can go long. ... All of this in the face of what I think is generally accepted as probable is that Brazil will have a very good crop," said Mike Nugent, president of brokerage MJ Nugent & Co in Sonoma, California.

* Arabica coffee futures are forecast to rise by the end of next year as exchange stocks decline, Rabobank said in an Outlook 2020 report issued on Wednesday. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N27Z5N0

* January robusta coffee LRCc2 settled up $46, or 3.43%, at $1,386 per tonne.

COCOA

* March New York cocoa CCc2 settled down $25, or 0.94%, at $2,628 per tonne, retreating further after hitting $2,694 on Monday, the highest since May 2018.

* New York March cocoa CCH0 may retrace to $2,616, as it faces a resistance at $2,683 per tonne, Reuters technical analyst Wang Tao said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2801YB

* March London cocoa LCCc2 settled down 9 pounds, or 0.47%, at 1,920 pounds per tonne, with losses limited by a weak pound. GBP/

(Reporting by Devika Krishna Kumar and Nigel Hunt; editing by Alex Richardson and Leslie Adler) ((devika.kumar@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646 223 6059; Reuters Messaging: devika.kumar.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))