Arabica coffee prices slip, cocoa also weakens

LONDON: Arabica coffee futures on ICE were lower on Friday, extending the market's pullback from a 10-year high set earlier this week, weighed partly by a strong dollar.

Coffee

March arabica coffee had fallen 1.5% to $2.3660 per lb by 1245 GMT. Prices had risen on Tuesday to a 10-year high of $2.5235.

Dealers said the arabica market remained underpinned, however, by supply tightness following a drop in exports from Colombia and bottlenecks in top producer Brazil which have disrupted shipments.

March robusta coffee fell 0.95% to $2,284 a tonne, hovering just below a 10-year high of $2,334 set on Tuesday.

Dealers said the robusta market remained focussed on the harvest in top robusta producer Vietnam which has been delayed by heavy rains.

Arabica, robusta coffee retreat after hitting 10-year peaks

Cocoa

March London cocoa fell 0.95% to 1,661 pounds a tonne.

Dealers said the new coronavirus variant has led to some concerns about whether demand would continue to recover although there remained some optimism about the outlook for prices.

"We think the growth in demand will outpace that of supply," Fitch Solutions said in a note, forecasting an average price of 1,775 pounds in 2022.

March New York cocoa was down 0.2% at $2,445 a tonne.

Sugar

March raw sugar rose 0.05% to 19.70 cents per lb.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said mills in Brazil, some of which can switch between using cane to make biofuel ethanol or sugar, had hedged a smaller proportion of production than at the same stage a year ago.

"The lower hedge level is in part a sign that Brazil's mills are reluctant to commit to sugar over ethanol yet," he said in a market update.

March white sugar rose 0.04% to $510.90 a tonne.