LONDON: Cocoa futures on ICE hit two-week lows on Wednesday after Europe’s third-quarter grind figures, a measure of demand, came in lower than expected.

COCOA

December New York cocoa fell 2.1% to $2,618 a tonne by 1322 GMT, having hit its lowest in nearly two weeks at $2,607.

December London cocoa fell 1.4% to 1,830 pounds a tonne, having hit its lowest in two weeks at 1,819 pounds.

Europe’s third-quarter cocoa grind rose 8.7% from a year earlier to 375,811 tonnes, data showed.

Germany’s third-quarter cocoa grind rose 16.35% year on year to 108,615 tonnes, data showed.

Dealers said the Europe figures were below expectations, adding they represent 3.5% growth from the same period in pre-pandemic 2019.

COFFEE

December arabica coffee fell 1.7% to $2.0935 per lb, having hit $2.1515 on Tuesday, just short of July’s 6-1/2 year peak of $2.1520.

“Brazil’s coffee regions received very good rainfall last week and more rain (is) forecast in the weeks ahead. Markets appear jittery however, until more rain is confirmed,” Rabobank said.

“La Nina is likely to return this month (and could) remain until Feb 2022. This could mean drier than normal weather for much of the main growing season.”

November robusta coffee fell 0.7% to $2,129 a tonne.

SUGAR

March raw sugar fell 0.3% to 20.03 cents per lb, having touched its highest since February 2017 on Monday at 20.61 cents.

Sugar production in Brazil’s centre-south region fell 19% in the second half of September compared with a year earlier, to 2.31 million tonnes, industry group Unica said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reduced its 2021/22 sugar imports estimate by 6.6% from the September report to 3 million short tonnes. The U.S. is the world’s third-largest sugar importer.

China, which vies with Indonesia as one of the world’s top sugar buyers, has set the 2022 sugar import quota at 1.945 million tonnes, unchanged from last year, the commerce ministry said. December white sugar rose 0.6% to $519.90 a tonne.