SOFTS-ICE cocoa rises, supported by industry buying

* Sugar key technical support seen at 18 cents, 17.70 cents

* Record mid-crop cocoa pod setting seen in I.Coast

(Adds quote, updates prices)

LONDON, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Cocoa futures on ICE rose on Thursday as dealers noted industry buying, while raw sugar and arabica coffee futures nudged higher, supported by index rebalancing activity.

Positive trade data from China, showing the world's second-largest economy's export growth rebounded sharply to a seven-month high in December, also buoyed the commodities complex. (ID:nL5N0RM09N)

ICE March cocoa futures rose $42 or 1.9 percent to $2,265 per tonne at 1522 GMT, as dealers said chocolate makers were taking advantage of the recent fall in prices.

"The industry has bought the market scale down," said a London-based broker.

Dealers continued to monitor the development of top producer Ivory Coast's mid crop.

"We have a record mid crop setting due to the decent rains we had in November/December but now the Harmattan wind is coming in so we're not sure what the survival will be," said a trader.

"If everything is normal then we should have a decent crop, better than last year."

The intensity of the dusty Harmattan, which blows southward from the Sahara Desert from December to March, can impact crop prospects.

Liffe cocoa futures edged off the previous session's 8-1/2 month low of 1,424 pounds per tonne with benchmark May futures up 15 pounds or 1.1 percent at 1,450 pounds per tonne.

SUGAR FIRM

Raw sugar futures edged towards 19 cents as dealers expected that index fund buying could help extend gains with the index's re-balancing this week.

"There is certainly an effect from the rebalancing on sugar and coffee," said Karim Cherif, commodities analyst at Credit Suisse.

March raw sugar futures on ICE traded 0.05 cent or 0.2 percent higher at 18.77 cents a lb GMT, after briefly trading above 19.5 cents at the turn of the year.

"The momentum we saw at the end of last year has faded," said Cherif, noting ample supplies combined with a weak technical outlook would weigh on prices.

"I would expect some weakness ahead, with next support seen at 18 cents and 17.70 cents. If we break below this it will start to look ugly for the market on a technical basis."

March white sugar on Liffe edged up $1.60 or 0.3 percent to $509.10 per tonne.

Dealers awaited Brazil's industry association Unica's latest harvest update, due at 1800 GMT.

Brazil's biggest sugar and ethanol milling group, Cosan , said on Thursday it expects the country's next center-south sugar cane crop to reach 600 million tonnes, up from 560 million to 570 million tonnes in the current 2012/13 harvest.

Arabica coffee futures edged higher, inline with a firmer commodities complex, with March up 0.65 cent or 0.4 percent to $1.4855 per lb.

"People are still pausing to see what the rebalancing of index funds will do to this market, which will have completed by the end of the month," said a London-based broker.

March robusta coffee futures rose $12 or 0.6 percent to $1,923 a tonne.

Robusta bean prices in Vietnam eased on Thursday, tracking a drop in the London futures market and luring buyers away from Indonesian supplies, but the low prices also discouraged farmers from selling their crop to exporters, traders said.

(Reporting by Sarah McFarlane; Editing by Alison Birrane)