LONDON: Cocoa futures on the ICE exchange hit four-month lows on Friday and headed for 3% losses for the week, amid a large increase in ICE-certified stocks and benign weather forecasts for West Africa.
Cocoa
London cocoa fell 3.6% to 6,110 pounds per metric ton at 1259 GMT.
Dealers noted ICE-certified stocks have shot up to their highest since early January ahead of the expiry of the front month cocoa contract later this session.
They added that weather reports for Ivory Coast, Ghana and parts of southern Nigeria are favourable for the next ten days, with a pickup in downpours towards the end of the period.
New York cocoa fell 3.7% to $7,879 a ton.
London cocoa prices climb, March expiry in focus
Coffee
Arabica coffee fell 1.4% at $3.8045 per lb.
Robusta coffee fell 1.1% to $5,466 a ton.
Rabobank said it expects ICE-certified stocks of both robusta and arabica to increase in the weeks ahead, as both types of coffee traded at tenderable parity in certain origins at various points over the past few months.
It said the stock increase should pressure prices over the coming few weeks.
Sugar
Raw sugar futures was little changed at 19.27 cents per lb, having settled up 2.1% on Thursday.
Sugar is being underpinned by continued concerns about rainfall volumes in top producer Brazil and a deterioration in sugar production expectations in India.
India is likely to produce 26.4 million metric tons of sugar during the current season to September, the Indian Sugar Mills Association said, 2.94% down from its previous estimate.
White sugar was little changed at $538.40 a metric ton.
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