Robusta coffee futures on ICE fell to the lowest level in more than 14 months on Tuesday with new crop supplies beginning to flow from Vietnam while demand remains sluggish. January robusta coffee was down $50, or 2.7 percent, at $1,805 a tonne by 1518 GMT after dipping to a low of $1,803, the weakest since late August 2016.
Dealers said the harvest in Vietnam was under way with little damage expected from Typhoon Damrey. The storm hit a key coffee-growing region of the world's biggest producer of robusta coffee beans near the start of the harvest. But farmers in Daklak, the heart of the region, said the damage was limited.
"All the crops are coming in and there is no demand from the industry, so that is why the market is under pressure," one European dealer said. December arabica coffee fell by 2.1 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $1.2345 per lb. Dealers said arabica supplies remained ample after a significant rise in production in the 2016/17 season.
The International Coffee Organization on Tuesday raised its estimate for 2016/17 world coffee production to 157.4 million 60kg bags, driven largely by an upward revision to arabica output in Mexico and Central America. "The market is well supplied at the start of coffee year 2017/18 by the replenishment of stocks over this past year," the ICO said in a report on Tuesday.
January robusta coffee was down $17, or 0.9 percent, at $1,838 a tonne. March raw sugar was off by 0.02 cents, or 0.14 percent, at 14.54 cents per lb. The decline was partly because of a modest retreat in crude oil prices on Tuesday. The recent rise in crude oil prices to the highest in about 2-1/2 years has been supportive for sugar, potentially leading to more use of cane to produce renewable fuel ethanol.
"We remain sceptical that higher oil prices can have anything but a minor influence on near-term sugar supply and ultimately on prices. Nonetheless, others evidently disagree, so we cannot ignore it," said Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey. March white sugar dipped by $0.10, or 0.03 percent, to $379.90 a tonne. December London cocoa was down 6 pounds, or 0.4 percent, at 1,579 pounds a tonne after the previous session's strong advance. March New York cocoa fell by $6, or 0.3 percent, to $2,103 a tonne.