LONDON: Cocoa futures on ICE slumped to more than 1-1/2-year lows on Monday, extending recent prolonged declines, with weak demand set to help fuel a global surplus in the 2025/26 season.
COCOA: London cocoa fell 0.2 percent to 4,149 pounds per metric ton by 1452 GMT after setting a more than 1-1/2-year low of 4,029 pounds.
Dealers said weak demand remained a significant concern with third quarter grind data, due to be published Thursday, expected to show year-on-year declines in Europe, North America and Asia.
Speculators increased a net short position in London cocoa by 5,060 lots to 10,771 lots, as of October 7, exchange data showed on Friday.
Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory were down 52 percent between October 1 and October 12 versus the same period a year ago, exporters estimated.
New York cocoa lost 0.3 percent to USD5,873 a ton after slumping to a more than 1-1/2-year low of USD5,695.
SUGAR: Raw sugar fell 3.35 percent to 15.26 cents per lb.
Dealers said the prospect of a global surplus in the 2025/26 season was weighing on the market, while price charts were also looking bearish. “The technical structure points to sustained weakness in the near term,” broker Sucden Financial said in a note.
Sugar production in the in the key Centre-South region of Brazil is expected to have totalled 3.05 million metric tons in the second half of September, marking a 7.7 percent year-over-year increase, according to an S&P Global Commodity Insights survey.
The data should be published during the next few days.
White sugar lost 2.2 percent to USD440.60 a ton.
COFFEE: Arabica coffee gained 2.6 percent to USD3.6555 per lb, regaining some ground after falling by 4.7 percent last week.
There are renewed concerns over dry weather in top grower Brazil, with weather forecasters expecting dry conditionss from around October 20 to the month end.
Robusta coffee rose 2.1 percent to USD4,485 a ton.