Robusta coffee heads for fourth week of gains on supply worries

LONDON: Robusta coffee futures on ICE fell on Friday but were heading for a fourth consecutive week of gains, buoyed by crop concerns in Brazil and Vietnam.

There was no trading in arabica coffee, raw sugar and New York cocoa because of the U.S. Independence Day holiday.

Coffee

Robusta coffee fell 1.4% to $3,731 a metric ton by 1015 GMT after hitting a five-month peak of $3,920 on Thursday.

Top robusta grower Vietnam’s coffee exports were up 7.3% in the first half of 2026, data showed.

But prospects for Vietnam’s 2026/27 crop are dimming because of hot, dry weather in Asia linked to the El Nino weather pattern.

In Brazil, meanwhile, wet weather has slowed the harvest and raised concerns over crop quality for the second-largest robusta grower.

Elsewhere, exports have fallen in Uganda. The country shipped 617,491 bags of coffee in May versus 793,445 bags a year earlier.

Vietnam coffee prices up, Indonesia harvest begins

Sugar

White sugar rose 0.85% to $487.20 a ton after setting a 9-1/2-month high of $490 on Thursday.

White sugar is heading for a second week of gains, driven by concerns that Europe’s heatwave could harm the coming crop.

Elsewhere, government data showed sugar production in top grower Brazil’s centre-south region fell 3% in the first half of June.

Limiting sugar’s gains, dealers noted rains in No.2 grower India are expected to improve next week through to mid-July.

Cocoa

London cocoa fell 0.5% to £3,726 a ton, heading for weekly losses of nearly 2.5%.

Cocoa’s rally has stalled this week, but dealers said the bean remains underpinned by the prospect of significantly lower 2026/27 production in top grower Ivory Coast.

Some analysts said they expect Ivory Coast production to slump by nearly 20% next season.