LONDON: Arabica coffee futures slid to a four-month low on Tuesday, while sugar and cocoa prices were also down sharply, dragged down by weakness in crude oil and many other commodity markets.

Coffee

May arabica coffee fell 2.5% to $2.1325 per lb by 1223 GMT, after touching a four-month low of $2.1320.

Dealers said funds were continuing to liquidate long positions, with favourable crop weather in top producer Brazil adding to the bearish mood.

The outlook on prices charts also appeared bearish after the market’s weak recent performance.

May robusta coffee fell 1.6% to $2,082 a tonne.

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Sugar

May raw sugar fell 2.4% to 18.67 cents per lb, weighed predominately by the sharp decline in crude oil prices.

Weaker energy prices reduce the incentive to use sugar cane to produce biofuel ethanol and that can lead to increased production of the sweetener.

The strong pace of exports from India has also helped to put the market on the defensive.

Indian sugar exports are seen climbing to 7.5 million tonnes in the 2021/22 season, up from the prior season’s 7.1 million, Abinash Verma, director general of the Indian Sugar Mills Association, said on Tuesday.

“We believe that we have signed contracts for 6.3 million tonnes in the current season already and contracts are getting signed pretty fast in India every week,” Verma told a sugar conference in Dubai.

May white sugar fell 2.0% to $519.40 a tonne.

Cocoa

May London cocoa fell 2.5% to 1,739 pounds a tonne.

Dealers said an improving outlook for the mid-crop in top grower Ivory Coast contributed to weakness.

May New York cocoa fell 2.4% to $2,548 a tonne.