ICE raw sugar futures fell on July 23, while Arabica coffee futures rose.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) cocoa futures rose to a three-year high on Wednesday, with particularly heavy trading volume, traders said, as physical cocoa prices were higher than cocoa futures and investors holding short positions in recent months contracts flattened positions.

ICE Arabica coffee futures rose more than 5% to a four-week high as a brokerage inspected parts of Brazil's drought-affected coffee belt and released a bullish market report.

ICE- September cocoa futures closed up $54, or 1.7%, at $3185 a tonne, hitting a three-year high of $3204 earlier. The first delivery notice for the contract will be on Aug. 18. According to preliminary Reuters data, total turnover reached 68000 lots, more than three times the daily average of 250 days of full trading.

London International Financial Futures and options Exchange (LIFFE)-September cocoa futures closed up 13 pounds, or 0.7%, at 1938 pounds per tonne, after hitting a contract high of 1950 pounds.

Brokerage INTLFCStone said it inspected two Arabica coffee-growing areas in Brazil last week and found "irreversible" damage to local crops and early flowering.

ICE- September Arabica coffee futures jumped 8.30 cents, or 4.9%, to close at $1.7660 a pound, the highest since June 27th.

LIFFE- September Robusta coffee futures were virtually unchanged, closing up $1 at $1994 a tonne.

ICE- October raw sugar futures fell 20 cents, or 1.2%, to 16.96 cents per pound. LIFFE- 's October white sugar contract closed down $4.80, or 1.1%, at $447.20 a tonne.