Sugar, coffee and cocoa futures on ICE fell on Monday as the rapid spread of the coronavirus triggered broad-based weakness in commodity and equity markets. March raw sugar was down 0.30 cents, or 1.9%, at 15.29 cents per lb at 1513 GMT.
"The market is continuing to chew on more negative factors whilst we have not reached a turning point for the virus itself. The dollar's safe-haven status poses risks for many commodities too," broker Marex Spectron said in a note.
Dealers said the market remained underpinned by tightening supplies linked to poor crops in Thailand and India.
The group cut its forecast for Thai sugar production in 2019/20 to 9.8 million tonnes from 13.5 million.
India has reallocated unused sugar exports quotas of more than 600,000 tonnes among mills after some producers failed to ship due to a drop in output, a government circular said on Monday.
Dealers said the expiry of the March contract on Friday was likely to provide a major short-term focus. The open interest on the March contract has been falling steadily in the run-up to expiry and stood at 70,196 lots as of Feb. 21, down 16,673 lots from a day earlier. May white sugar fell $7.10, or 1.7%, to $416.30 a tonne. May arabica coffee fell 4.50 cents, or 4.1%, to $1.0575 per lb, losing the bulk of the prior session's gains. The contract rose by 5.05% on Friday.
Dealers noted concerns that the coronavirus could curb demand with the closure of retail coffee shops in some areas, although the overall impact on global consumption appears likely to be modest.
May robusta coffee fell $24, or 1.85%, to $1,272 per tonne.
May London cocoa fell 29 pounds, or 1.4%, to 2,011 pounds a tonne.
Dealers said the market remained underpinned by concerns that dry weather could curb production in top growers Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Below-average rains in some of Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions last week could delay the April to September mid-crop, while there was good rainfall elsewhere, farmers said on Monday. May New York cocoa was down $30, or 1.1%, at $2,813 a tonne.
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