Softs: Cocoa falls as traders digest demand figures, Barry Callebaut results

Barry Callebaut AG

16/04/2026 15:14

Updates prices, adds details

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) - Cocoa futures on ICE fell on Thursday, having hit two-month highs in the prior session as traders digested mixed figures on first-quarter demand and poor results from Barry Callebaut BARN.S, the world's top chocolate maker and cocoa processor.

Raw sugar futures recovered after hitting their lowest price in more than five years on Wednesday.

COCOA

* London cocoa LCCc2 was down 1.4% at 2,551 pounds a metric ton as of 1351 GMT.

* Barry Callebaut slashed its full-year operating profit forecast earlier in the day, citing supply chain disruptions linked to the Iran war and overcapacity in the cocoa market.

* The Swiss group said its sales volume fell 6.9% in the first half, but it sees a return to volume growth ahead which should bring its full-year decline down to between 1% and 3%.

* Europe's first-quarter cocoa grind, a measure of demand, fell 7.8% from a year earlier, data showed, while Asia's grind rose 5.2%. The North America grind is due later this session.

* Dealers said the Europe data was worse than expected.

* New York cocoa CCc2 fell 1% to $3,527 a ton.

SUGAR

* Raw sugar SBc1 rose 1.2% to 13.67 cents per lb, having hit the lowest price since October 2020 on Wednesday.

* White sugar LSUc1 rose 1.3% to $417.70.

* The front-month white sugar contract expired on Wednesday with a record of nearly half a million tons delivered.

* Tereos, one of the world's largest sugar producers,  expects to crush 18 million metric tons of sugarcane in the 2026/27 season in Brazil, steady from the previous cycle despite the sale of a unit in the country this year.

COFFEE

* Robusta coffee LRCc2 fell 1.5% to $3,342 a ton, though it remains some way off last week's eight-month low.

* "Activity stayed tepid (this week) as farmers are not selling, although demand still exists after prices have come down significantly," said a robusta trader in top producer Vietnam.

* Arabica coffee KCc2 rose 2.7% to $2.9035 per lb.

* Dealers said while the market continues to expect a hefty surplus next season, there is an increasing risk that the El Nino weather phenomenon will hurt output and cut the eventual supply excess.

 (Reporting by May Angel; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

 ((may.angel@thomsonreuters.com; x.com/ReutersAngelM; linkedin.com/in/may-angel-03b69a41/;))