LONDON: Raw sugar futures on ICE were sharply lower on Thursday while coffee and cocoa prices also weakened as lockdowns in Europe weighed on crude oil and many other commodity markets.

March raw sugar was down 0.39 cent, or 2.6%, at 14.50 cents per lb at 1458 GMT. The front month set an eight-month peak of 15.04 cents on Tuesday.

Dealers said there were renewed concerns about demand, particularly in Europe. Lockdowns across the globe earlier this year curtailed sugar consumption.

The market remains underpinned, however, by short-term supply tightness and uncertainty about the extent to which India will subsidise exports this season. French sugar maker Tereos, which has a large operation in top producer Brazil, believes that a large part of historically high sugar stocks currently sitting in Brazilian warehouses has already been sold and would be shipped soon.

December white sugar was down $8.70, or 2.2%, at $387.90 a tonne. December arabica coffee fell by 1.0 cent, or 0.95% to $1.0405 per lb after earlier dipping to a low of $1.0295, its lowest since July 22.

Dealers said weakness in the currency of top exporter Brazil had added to downward pressure, improving prices in local currency terms and so encouraging sales.

January robusta coffee fell by $12, or 0.9%, to $1,335 a tonne.

Heavy rains and strong winds triggered by a typhoon hit Vietnam’s key coffee growing region this week, posing a threat to the country’s harvest, traders said on Thursday.

March New York cocoa was down $23, or 1.0%, at $2,355 per tonne.

A pandemic-linked drop in global cocoa demand is hindering Ivory Coast’s efforts to sell the remaining 500,000 tonnes of cocoa beans from its 2020/21 interim harvest, sources in the cocoa regulator (CCC) and local industry said.

March London cocoa fell by 3 pounds, or 0.2%, to 1,640 pounds a tonne.—Reuters