Coffee futures on ICE rose on Tuesday with dealers increasingly nervous about escalating tensions between the United states and Colombia, the world’s third largest coffee producer.
Cocoa also rose, moving away from a 1-1/2 year low set a week ago, while sugar fell.
COFFEE
Arabica coffee rose 1.5% to $4.1125 per lb at 1429 GMT, having closed up 2.2% on Monday.
Colombia has recalled its ambassador from Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would raise tariffs on the South American nation and stop all payments to it. The comments intensified a feud stemming from U.S. military strikes on vessels in the Caribbean.
The U.S., the world’s top coffee consumer, currently imposes 10% tariffs on Colombian imports. The country gets about a fifth of its beans from Colombia and about a third from Brazil, the world’s top coffee grower.
The U.S.-Colombia tensions come as dealers are eagerly awaiting news on trade negotiations between the U.S. and Brazil. Both sides agreed last week to schedule a meeting between President Donald Trump and his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva “at the earliest possible occasion”.
Any reduction in the 50% U.S. tariff on Brazilian imports, including coffee, would be seen as bearish for prices.
In other news, the European Commission proposed a further softening of the EU anti-deforestation law, relieving the reporting burden for many smallholders and businesses but stepping back from delaying the world-first green policy by another year.
Robusta coffee rose 2% to $4,552 a ton.
Cocoa prices ease while coffee and sugar climb
COCOA
London cocoa rose 1.2% to 4,185 a ton, having settled down 0.6% on Monday.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast fell 31.6% between October 1 and October 19 versus the same period a year ago, exporters estimated on Monday, adding they expect total arrivals in the October-to-December period to fall 14%, before recovering between January and March next year.
By contrast, Broker StoneX noted that exports from No. 3 cocoa grower Ecuador rose 15% in September to record highs, and that crop forecasts for Ecuador’s 2025/26 crop range from 560,00 tons to 650,000 tons.
Elsewhere, third-quarter cocoa demand data, issued last week, was generally better than expected, and dealers noted data from market researchers Nielsen shows chocolate demand in Europe stabilised in September.
New York cocoa rose 1% to $5,960 a ton.
SUGAR
Raw sugar fell 2.4% to 15.35 cents per lb, having settled up 1.4% on Monday.
Brazil’s sugar production in the key center-south region is expected to total 43.2 million tons in the 2026/27 season, up from 41.42 million expected in the 2025/26 season, Plinio Nastari, president of Agribusiness consultancy Datagro, said.
White sugar fell2.6% to $435.40 a ton.
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