Softs: Raw sugar futures hit five-year low on ample supplies, oil price falls

Barry Callebaut AG

17/04/2026 17:44

Recasts, updates prices, adds details

LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Raw sugar futures hit a five-year low on Friday as they headed for a third consecutive week of losses on ample near-term supplies and sharp oil price falls.

Falling energy prices are bearish for sugar because they can encourage cane mills to produce more sugar and less ethanol, a cane-based biofuel.

SUGAR

* Raw sugar SBc1 fell 3.1% to 13.24 cents per lb at 1609 GMT, having earlier hit a five-year low of 13.22.

* White sugar LSUc1 fell 1.8% to $410.90 a metric ton.

* Oil prices plunged by about 13% after Iran's foreign minister said passage for all commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz was open for the remaining ceasefire period.

* Brazil's national crop agency Conab raised its forecast for the country's 2025/26 sugarcane harvest by 1.02% from its previous estimate to 673.25 million metric tons.

        * The front-month white sugar contract expired on Wednesday, with a record of nearly half a million tons delivered. Large deliveries usually mean sugar could not achieve a better price in the physical markets.

* Broker StoneX said the data reinforced the view that there is high availability and that it "opens the door to a scenario of strong price pressure over the coming months".

* The broker also noted sugar demand is weak due to a "significant shift in global food consumption patterns".

COCOA

* London cocoa LCCc2 fell 3.6% to 2,439 pounds a ton, having ​closed down 2.2%.

* Thursday's first-quarter cocoa grind data, a measure of demand, was weaker than expected in Europe and North America, though figures for Asia were strong.

* First-half results on Thursday from the leading global cocoa processor and chocolate maker Barry Callebaut were also weak, although the group forecast a return to volume growth in the six months to end-September.

* New York cocoa CCc2 fell 4.1% to $3,313 a ton, having closed down 3%.

COFFEE

* Robusta coffee LRCc2 fell 2.4% to $3,268 a ton, though it remained above last week's eight-month low.

* A robusta trader in the biggest producer Vietnam said lower prices had stimulated demand.

* Arabica coffee KCc2 fell 1.9% to $2.8485 per lb.

 (Reporting by May Angel; editing by Barbara Lewis and Louise Heavens)

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