Coffee and cocoa fall with wider commodities selloff

Coffee and cocoa futures fell on Monday as part of a wider commodities selloff, dented by the rise in the US dollar to seven-month highs, while sugar firmed, underpinned by rain hampering the cane crush in Brazil. The weak tone in softs, with sugar futures having fallen earlier in the session, was part of a broader decline in commodities that has been stoked by worries over faltering demand from China.
"It seems to be a fall across the board," said Carlos Mera, a coffee analyst with Rabobank, referring to softs being swept up by the malaise hitting commodity markets in general. January robusta futures were down $26, or 1.7 percent, at $1,546 per tonne at 1511 GMT, and traded within sight of Wednesday's two-year low of $1,494 per tonne. "Rainfall in the key Brazilian robusta growing state of Espirito Santos is weighing on robusta futures," Mera added.
March arabicas were down 2.35 cents, or 1.9 percent, at $1.2205 per lb. Cocoa futures were down, weighed by a year-on-year increase in cocoa arrivals at ports at top grower Ivory Coast. Cocoa arrivals in Ivory Coast reached around 441,000 tonnes by November 22 from the start of the season on October 1, exporters estimated on Monday, up from 408,000 tonnes in the same period of the previous season.
London March cocoa were down 23 pounds, or 1 percent, at 2,267 pounds per tonne, having touched a 4-1/2-year peak at 2,317 on Friday. New York March cocoa fell $40, or 1.2 percent, at $3,328 per tonne. Raw sugar futures on ICE firmed, trading below a nine-month high touched earlier this month.
"On a macro level, sugar seems to be swimming against the tide," said Nick Penney, a senior trader with Sucden Financial Sugar. "It is one of the few commodities making headway whilst the main commodity board is under pressure. The US dollar remains overall strong against the main currencies." Dealers awaited cane crush data from centre-south Brazil for the first half of Brazil, due to be released later this week.
"Given the high rainfall during the period in question, it is expected to be a bullish report with almost seven days lost to rain with some millers unable to crush during the large part of the fortnight," Penney said. Raw sugar futures were up 0.13 cents or 0.85 percent to 15.43 cents a lb. White sugar firmed, with March up $3.50, or 0.85 percent, at $413.20 per tonne.