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Cocoa futures on ICE rose on Friday with concerns that production in West Africa may fall next season outweighing the negative impact of weak demand and high stocks.

Dealers said weather in top grower Ivory Coast had been less favourable for the 2015/16 crop (October/September) and it appears set to fall from this season's potentially record level.

The prospect for a recovery in production in Ghana is also uncertain as there is little clarity yet on the reasons why this season's crop fell far below expectations, they added.

"It is all about production at the moment, and as long as there is a negative outlook I can still see potential upside," one London dealer said.

Heavy rain and overcast conditions in the past week threaten to damage the early flowering for next season's cocoa main crop in some of Ivory Coast's growing regions, farmers said on Monday.

September New York cocoa was up $25 or 0.8% at $3,303 a tonne at 1252 GMT with prices moving back up towards a nine-month peak of $3,338 set on June 29.

Dealers said demand, however, remained sluggish and next week's second quarter grind data was likely to show year-on-year declines for both Europe and North America.

European data, to be issued on Tuesday, may show a modest fall of 2 to 3% in the second quarter grind while a larger decline of perhaps 5 to 10% was anticipated in the North American report on Thursday, they said.

September London cocoa was up 0.2% at 2,204 pounds a tonne with gains capped by a rise in the value of sterling against the dollar weighing on prices.

Raw sugar futures were higher with the market supported an improving economic outlook with China's stock market rebounding and hopes growing for a deal between Greece and its creditors.

October raws rose 1.85% to 12.12 cents a lb although remained on track for a small weekly loss after falling earlier in the week.

"We see no reason to change our overall bearish stance and we expect 11.50 to be the next area the market will target short term," Sucden Financial senior trader Nick Penney said.

"There seems an abundance of supply despite weather concerns and trade flows continue to be in surplus."

August white sugar rose 2.2% to $367.90 per tonne.

Coffee futures also edged up with September arabica futures up 0.7% at $1.2610 per lb and September robustas rising a marginal 0.1% to $1,729 a tonne.