LONDON: London cocoa futures on ICE hit their lowest in 2-1/2 years on Tuesday as concern about unsold stocks of cocoa in both Ivory Coast and Ghana continued to weigh on prices.
COCOA
London cocoa fell 0.8percent to 2,529 pounds per metric ton at 1100 GMT, having hit a 2-1/2 year low earlier at 2,508 pounds. Unsold bags of cocoa beans are stacked almost to the ceiling in Sekou Dagnogo’s warehouse in Ivory Coast’s western town of Duekoue, where his cooperative is struggling to sell to exporters following a fall in global cocoa prices.
Ghana slashed its fixed price for cocoa at the farmgate by a third last week in a bid to reboot its cocoa sales and get cash to farmers. “This will make more cocoa available on the market, which is likely to put additional pressure on prices, as demand from chocolate producers is currently subdued. This will also increase pressure on Ivory Coast to lower its farm-gate price as well,” Commerzbank said in a note.
New York cocoa lost 1.3percent to USD3,626 a ton, having hit its lowest in more than two years at USD3,591.
SUGAR
Raw sugar rose 2.4percent to 14.10 cents per lb, rebounding from a five-year low of 13.67 cents set last week. Dealers said the market had derived support partly from talk that India’s crop may not be as large as had been previously expected, cutting the size of a projected global surplus in the current 2025/26 season. White sugar gained 0.4percent to USD407.80 a ton after rising by 2.2percent on Monday when the raw sugar market was shut.
COFFEE
Arabica coffee fell 2.4percent to USD2.9105 per lb with the market heading back down towards a 6-1/2 month low of USD2.8550 set earlier this month. Robusta coffee lost 2.1percent to USD3,709 a ton.
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