At Sucden Financial, Thomas Kujawa said: "The technical indicators and chart technicians were pretty unanimous in suggesting [an upward] correction was imminent."

Back to the future? 

An extended rebound in sugar would re-enact a remarkable similarity between sugar futures this year, which ran up to a multi-decade high of 36.08 cents a pound on February 2 for New York's near-term lot, and in 2010, when the feat was reached on February 1.

Both peaks have been followed by marked falls in prices, of some 16 cents a pound, with last year's correction bottoming out on May 7.

This year, the low so far was set on Friday, May 6, when the spot sugar contract hit a 2011 low of 20.40 cents a pound.

Pent-up demand

Factors seen as fuelling today's price surge included congestion at Brazilian ports highlighted by Agrimoney.com on Monday, as docks struggle to handle the volume of the country's trade, including fertilizer imports.

At least 20 vessels are anchored outside the port of Santos waiting to load up with sugar, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Egypt, which last week cancelled a sugar tender, and said it was unlikely to return to the market soon, confirmed it had bought 50,000 tonnes, fuelling talk of buyers nervous to secure supplies.

"A lot of end users still have to buy," Mr Flury said.

And doubts have grown that India, the second-ranked sugar producer, will export more than 500,000 tonnes initially signalled, following downgrades to output estimates from two key states.