Cocoa steadies as traders wait for more data on demand – Markets

LONDON: Cocoa futures traded on the ICE exchange steadied on Thursday as investors weighed concerns over prospects for the mid-crop in top grower Ivory Coast against bets demand for the chocolate ingredient is slumping in response to high prices.

Cocoa

New York cocoa fell 1% to $8,041 a metric ton, having settled up 1.2% on Wednesday.

London cocoa rose 0.5% to 6,265 a ton.

Dealers noted that news from producing countries remains negative, with reports that dry weather will reduce the size of the mid-crop in Ivory Coast by 40%.

Against that however, they are waiting for more data on the cocoa grind, a measure of demand.

The cocoa grind in Ivory Coast, the world’s No. 2 grinder after The Netherlands, fell 4.7% year-on-year in February.

In other news, four Brazilian organizations have launched a fund aiming to raise $176 million by 2030 for loans to small cocoa growers so they can expand their operations.

Cocoa producers in Brazil are struggling to improve yields and the industry expects another difficult year, after output fell to 179,000 tons in 2024 from 220,000 the previous year.

Cocoa futures climb, raw sugar prices turn lower

Coffee

Arabica coffee fell 1% to $3.8035 per lb, having settled up 1.9% on Wednesday.

Rabobank said crop prospects in top grower Brazil are improving as, following a dry February, rains have returned mid-March and this has brought much relief.

It added that the impact of February’s dry weather on the crop has been limited so far.

Robusta coffee fell 1% to $5,474 a ton.

Coffee prices in Vietnam, the world’s top robusta producer, rose this week as some cash rich traders opted to hold back on sales in a bid to boost prices.

Sugar

Raw sugar futures rose 1.1% to $19.91 cents per lb, still short of a 2-1/2-week high of 20.09 cents set on Tuesday.

Dealers said there were scattered showers in Centre-South Brazil but more rains were needed to prevent a further decline in the outlook for Brazil’s 2025/26 cane crop.

They also noted the Brazilian real currency has reached its highest versus the dollar since October, reducing the incentive of crushers to sell by lower returns in local currency terms.

White sugar fell 0.5% to $560 a ton.