World sugar prices rallied on Wednesday, with white sugar scaling 9-1/2-month peaks as drought, heat stress and El Nino weather patterns threaten crops in major sugar growing regions across Europe and Asia.

Europe has been in the throes of a record-breaking heatwave that has caused deaths and disrupted daily life for more than a week, with heat likely to build up again next week in countries such as France and Germany.

Forecasters have warned that beets in parts of Europe have withered and that many sugar growing areas are likely to remain excessively dry for at least the next week to ten days.

"Crop conditions may deteriorate further and concerns for significant production losses will remain high," said broker ADMIS.

White sugar futures on the ICE exchange ICEUS:SF1!, used to price sugar around the world, hit their highest since mid-September earlier at $488.10 per metric ton, while raw sugar futures ICEUS:SB1! hit a 1-1/2 month high of 15.25 cents per lb.

By 1533 GMT, white sugar came off its peak to trade up 2.2% at $484.80 a ton, while raw sugar was up 1.5% at 15.04 cents/lb.

In Europe's largest sugar grower France, forecaster Meteo France sees no rain in key sugar areas until at least July 14, a situation French sugar beet association CGB described as potentially catastrophic.

Elsewhere, No. 2 sugar grower India is likely to receive below-average monsoon rainfall in July after logging its fifth-driest June since records began in 1901.

Major Asian sugar producers like India and Thailand are experiencing excessively dry conditions due to El Nino.

"The heatwave in Europe and reduced rainfall expectations for India and Thailand (due) to El Nino are threatening to tighten global supplies," said broker ADMIS.

In other soft commodities, arabica coffee ICEUS:KC1! edged up 0.1% to $2.9640 per lb after hitting a fresh eight-week high, while robusta coffee ICEEUR:RC2! rose 1.7% to $3,721 a ton, having hit a near four-month high earlier.

London cocoa ICEEUR:C2! edged up 0.2% at 3,826 a ton, while New York cocoa ICEUS:CC1! rose 0.5% to $5,104 a ton.