LONDON: Cocoa futures on ICE rose on Friday but were still set for weekly declines driven by weak second quarter grinding data while coffee prices were also higher.
Cocoa
London cocoa rose 2.9% to 4,943 pounds per metric ton by 1103 GMT, regaining some ground after falling by more than 5% on Thursday.
Dealers said overnight news of a modest 2.78% fall in North America’s second quarter cocoa grind may have provided some support after much steeper year-on-year declines in both Europe and Asia.
The market, however, remained on track for a weekly loss of 5.6%.
- “Concerns about demand have been the main driver of downward pressure on prices,” analyst BMI said in a note.
New York cocoa gained 2.7% to $7,504 a ton.
Coffee
Arabica coffee rose 0.1% to $3.0755 per lb.
The market was on track for a weekly gain of 7.4% boosted by news that the U.S. plans to impose 50% tariffs on all imports from top coffee grower Brazil on August 1.
About a third of U.S. coffee comes from Brazil and the tariffs, if they transpire, would all but halt the flow of Brazilian beans to the U.S., the world’s top coffee drinker.
Dealers noted the harvest in Brazil was progressing well and was 77% complete, as of July 16, up from 74% a year ago according to Safras & Mercado.
Robusta coffee gained 1% at $3,346 a ton.
Sugar
Raw sugar rose 0.7% to 16.86 cents per lb.
China imported 420,000 metric tons of sugar in June, bringing the cumulative total for the year-to-date to 1.04 million tons, down 19.7% from the same period last year.
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