(Reuters) – Cocoa futures weakened on Tuesday with the market dampened by sluggish demand, while raw sugar and arabica coffee prices also fell.
Cocoa
* December New York cocoa was $36, or 1.80 percent, lower at $1,969 a tonne at 1042 GMT. The benchmark second position had peaked on Monday at a five-week high of $2,021.
* Dealers noted demand had yet to revive significantly despite a sharp drop in prices since the beginning of last year.
* “In the first half-year, Lindt & Spruengli was once again confronted with stagnating or slow-growing chocolate markets, especially in its most important market, North America, and consumer sentiment that remained largely restrained”, the Swiss chocolate maker said on Tuesday.
* North America’s cocoa grind fell by 1.05 percent in the second quarter of 2017, data from the National Confectioners Association (NCA) showed last week.
* The market remained underpinned, however, by the prospect of lower production in West Africa in the 2017/18 season.
* Light rains and cool, overcast weather last week in most of Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions raised concerns about the forthcoming October-to-March main crop, farmers said on Monday.
* December London cocoa fell 24 pounds, or 1.53 percent, to 1,545 pounds a tonne.
Coffee
* September arabica coffee fell 0.20 cents, or 0.15 percent, to $1.3235 per lb as the market consolidated after its recent advance.
* Dealers said investors had begun to trim a large net short position while the market was also supported by a slowdown in exports from Brazil with 2017 an off-year in its biennial crop cycle.
* “The decline in prices so far this year was probably exacerbated by negative investor sentiment. As such, we expect prices to rise in the second half of 2017. Indeed, the price of arabica coffee has already started to edge up,” Capital Economics said in a market note.
* September robusta coffee rose $7, or 0.33 percent, to $2,110 per tonne.
Sugar
* October raw sugar was 0.04 cent, or 0.28 percent, at 14.36 cents per lb.
* Dealers were awaiting the release of harvest data for Centre-South Brazil covering the first half of July. Cane industry group UNICA is expected to release the report around 1300 GMT.
* An S&P Global Platts survey of analysts said the crush was expected to have been 48 million tonnes, marginally up from 47.08 million in the same period last year.
* October white sugar was off $0.30, or 0.08 percent, at $393.00 a tonne.
