Softs: Sugar up off five-year lows amid Iran tensions, but ample supplies cap gains

Barry Callebaut AG

20/04/2026 16:45

Recasts, updates prices

LONDON, April 20 (Reuters) -
Raw sugar futures on ICE bounced up off recent five-year lows on Monday as oil rallied on renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities, but ample supplies kept the sweetener's gains in check.

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

SUGAR

* Raw sugar SBc1 rose 0.8% to 13.42 cents per lb at 1535 GMT, having hit a five-year low of 13.22 on Friday.

* White sugar LSUc1 rose 1.3% to $417.50 a metric ton.

* Oil prices were up around 5% on fears the U.S.-Iran ceasefire could collapse as the U.S. seized an Iranian cargo ship at the weekend.

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

* "Record deliveries point to burdensome supply overall. The market is still looking at a large global surplus for 2025/26, even as production expectations for 2026/27 slip," said broker ADMIS.

COCOA

* London cocoa LCCc2 was up 3% at 2,500 pounds a metric ton.

* Cocoa is reversing three consecutive days of losses, prompted by weak first-quarter demand data from Europe, North America and Brazil.

* The data is backward looking, though, and demand is expected to recover going forward.

* First-half results on Thursday from leading global cocoa processor and chocolate maker Barry Callebaut were weak but the group forecast a return to sales volume growth, a measure of demand, in the second half.

* On the supply side, cocoa arrivals at Ivory Coast ports were up 0.1% from the season start to April 19 versus the same period a year ago.

* Rains were mainly below average last week in most of Ivory Coast's cocoa-growing regions and farmers said more moisture is needed to boost the March-to-August mid-crop.

        * New York cocoa CCc2 rose 3.2% to $3,385 a ton.

COFFEE

* Robusta coffee LRCc2 rose 3.7% to $3,384 a ton, having hit an eight-month low of $3,173 early April.

        * A dealer in top robusta producer Vietnam said farmers continue to hold back stocks in hope of higher prices.

* Arabica coffee KCc2 rose 1.2% to $2.8755 per lb, having lost 3.9% last week.

 (Reporting by May Angel; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Vijay Kishore)

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