Cocoa hits all-time high; robusta coffee steadies after 16-year closing high

LONDON — New York cocoa prices on ICE gained more than 5% on Monday to record highs as the market remains underpinned by an outlook of limited supplies.

Robusta coffee futures steadied after hitting their highest in at least 16 years last week.

COCOA: May New York cocoa settled up $332 or 5.2% at $6,728 a metric ton. The contract rose to an all-time high of $6,779/ton during the session.

May London cocoa rose 5.4% to £5,516 per ton, short of a record high of £5,620 set last week.

Dealers said cocoa futures remain supported by tight supplies in the main producing region of West Africa.

Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast since the start of the season on Oct. 1 had reached 1.114 million metric tons by March 10, down 28.1% from the same period last season, exporters estimated on Monday.

London cocoa speculators cut their net long position by 3,320 lots to 43,912 lots as of March 5, while New York cocoa speculators cut their net long position by 1,457 contracts to 21,303 in the week to March 5.

COFFEE: May robusta coffee settled down $18 or 0.5% at $3,279 a ton, having hit a peak of $3,460 last week — the highest since the current form of the contract started trading in January 2008.

Dealers in Vietnam noted a significant decline in visible stocks and said this early destocking is another sign the 2023/2024 crop is not bigger than 2022/2023 — perhaps slightly smaller.

They added the stocks’ decline so early in the season — with six months to go to 2024/25 — shows the current crop has been heavily front-loaded due to strong demand. February coffee exports in Vietnam fell 32.6% month on month to 160,584 tons, data showed.

Robusta coffee speculators raised their net long position by 2,730 lots to 41,241 lots as of March 5, data showed.

May arabica coffee was little changed at $1.85 per pound (lb).

SUGAR: May raw sugar rose 3.8% to 21.95 cents per lb.

Dealers said sugar has been supported by the prospect of a smaller cane crop in top producer Brazil in the upcoming 2024/2025 season.

May white sugar rose 3.3% to $617.10 a ton. —