LONDON: Raw sugar and arabica coffee futures on ICE fell on Monday as weakness of Brazil's real currency encouraged selling by producers in the world's top grower of both commodities.
"The Brazilian real's continued weakness is triggering forward sales by Brazilian (sugar) mills to take advantage of better real pricing," said Tobin Gorey, analyst at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The Brazilian real fell for a fourth straight day on Monday as concern over US President-elect Donald Trump's economic policies and higher US yields drove the central bank to intervene.
March raw sugar was off 0.02 cents, or 0.1 percent, at 21.68 cents per lb at 1313 GMT, while December whites fell $2.80, or 0.5 percent, to $572.20 per tonne.
"Support would be expected to be strong around 21 cents and perhaps this will be the battleground for the week," said Tom Kujawa, co-head of the softs department at Sucden Financial.
Dealers said rains in Brazil continued to slow cane crushing, with data from the Centre-South region covering the second half of October expected to be issued in the near future.
Rains may also improve the outlook for the next crop. December arabica coffee was off 1.25 cents, or 0.8 percent, at $1.5820 per lb. Robusta coffee futures were also lower, with January off $6, or 0.3 percent, at $2,021 a tonne.
Dealers said the harvest in top robusta producer Vietnam should start to gather pace over the next few days, potentially leading to a pick-up in hedge selling.
Vietnam exported 117,300 tonnes (1.96 million 60-kg bags) of coffee in October, down 9.1 percent from the previous month, Vietnam Customs said on Monday.
Exports were slightly above trader expectations of 70,000 to 100,000 tonnes. March New York cocoa fell $8, or 0.3 percent, to $2,463 a tonne, weighed by a stronger dollar and improving crop outlook in West Africa.
The second month had dipped to a low of $2,422 on Thursday, its weakest since September 2013. Light rains mixed with sunny spells last week in most of Ivory Coast's cocoa growing regions strengthened the prospect for a main crop, which is expected to exceed last season's, farmers said on Monday.
March London cocoa futures was unchanged at 2,022 pounds a tonne.
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