LONDON: Arabica coffee futures on ICE fell on Tuesday, having hit a one-month low in the previous session on increased ICE-certified stocks and lingering worries that COVID-19 lockdowns are hurting demand.
Sugar and cocoa, meanwhile, both chalked up price gains.
March arabica coffee fell 0.5% to $1.2295 per lb by 1203 GMT after dipping to a low of $1.1875 on Monday.
US branded coffee shops will only return to pre-pandemic sales levels next year after the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out nearly a quarter of their turnover last year, said research and consultancy firm Allegra World Coffee Portal.
Dealers said the recent rise in certified stocks is also weighing on coffee. Certified arabica stocks rose to 1.49 million bags on Monday, their highest since last August.
March robusta coffee fell 0.8% to $1,305 a tonne.
March New York cocoa rose 0.7% to $2,448 a tonne as coronavirus vaccine rollout hopes kept the mood upbeat in wider financial markets.
Limiting gains in cocoa however, are concerns that coronavirus lockdowns could further curb demand. There has also been talk that cocoa arrivals at ports in top producer Ivory Coast are slowing because warehouses are full, dealers said.
North American grind data, a measure of demand, is due to be released on Jan. 14 and provisional European data on Jan. 20.
March London cocoa rose by 0.5% to 1,638 pounds a tonne.
March raw sugar rose 0.4% to 15.73 cents per lb, having climbed to 16.33 cents last week, its highest since May 2017.
Dealers said fund buying continues to dominate but warned it might be over-exuberant.
The current market view, they said, is that supplies will remain tight until the next Brazilian harvest, but questions remain over whether this tightness is actual or perceived as demand is likely to remain poor while the COVID-19 pandemic rages on. March white sugar was up 0.7% at $441.30 a tonne.
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