NEW YORK: New York cocoa futures on ICE were up around 3% on Monday to a record high as the market for the chocolate-making ingredient remains supported by an outlook of limited supplies.
Coffee prices at record high in Vietnam as dry weather drives supply concerns
There was no trading for London cocoa, robusta coffee and white sugar on Monday due to a bank holiday in London.
Cocoa
July New York cocoa was up 3.6% at 14:20 GMT to $10,125 per metric ton, having hit a record high of $10,174/ton.
Dealers said the market continued to be supported by falling production in West Africa that is leading to a very limited availability of beans to the global chocolate industry.
Lack of rain and strong sun in most of Ivory Coast’s main cocoa regions last week could hinder the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday.
Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara will increase the official cocoa farmgate price to 1,500 CFA francs ($2.47) per kg from Tuesday from the current 1,000 CFA, sources at five different export companies said.
Coffee
May arabica coffee was up 0.3% at 14:20 GMT to $1.887 per lb.
Dealers said prices for arabica coffee were being positively influenced by a tight supply situation in the robusta coffee market with Vietnam and Indonesia failing to provide the market with enough product and Brazil yet to start the harvest of the 2024 crop.
Green coffee stocks in Japan at the end of February were down 3.3% from a year earlier to 2.44 million bags, according to data from the Japan Coffee Association compiled by the Coffee Trading Academy (CTA).
Sugar
May raw sugar was up 1.5% at 14:20 GMT to 22.87 cents per lb.
The market focus is in Brazil and the start of this year’s sugarcane harvest, traders said.
The weather has dried up in Brazil’s Centre-South region after rains last week, so more mills are likely to start their sugarcane processing operations for the season.
Egypt’s state grains buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), is believed to have bought 150,000 metric tons of raw sugar in a tender, traders told Reuters on Monday.