Softs: Arabica coffee hits 5-1/2 month low while cocoa also falls

Mondelez International

04/02/2026 14:42

Adds background, updates prices

LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Arabica coffee prices slumped to a 5-1/2 month low on Wednesday weighed by the prospect of a larger crop in top producer Brazil this year while cocoa prices also fell.

COFFEE

* Arabica coffee KCc1 was down 0.6% at $3.1515 per lb by 1426 GMT​​ after hitting a 5-1/2 month low of $3.1405.

* Dealers also noted ICE exchange stocks were beginning to creep higher and should climb further in the near future with the volume of coffee pending grading growing.

* Exchange data showed there were 60,627 bags of arabica coffee pending grading, as of February 3, up from 28,354 bags a week earlier.

* Robusta coffee LRCc1 rose 1.05% to $3,850 a metric ton.

COCOA

* London cocoa LCCc1 lost 4.2% to 2,958 pounds a ton, slipping back towards a more than two-year low of 2,728 pounds set on Friday.

* Dealers said the market remained on the defensive owing to weak demand that is leading to a build-up in stocks of unsold beans in both Ivory Coast and Ghana

* A surge in cocoa prices in 2023 and 2024 has driven up the cost of chocolate, curbing demand, while some manufacturers have reformulated products to reduce cocoa content.

* Cadbury parent Mondelez International MDLZ.O expects a subdued year ahead as price increases deter shoppers already facing rising living costs and macroeconomic uncertainty.

* New York cocoa CCc1 fell 4.4% to $4,112 a ton.

SUGAR

* Raw sugar SBc1 lost 0.6% to 14.54 cents per lb, slipping back towards a 2-1/2 month low of 14.13 cents set on Monday.

* Dealers continued to keep a close watch on news from the annual Dubai sugar conference, with forecasts that the market is likely to be more balanced in the coming 2026/27 season because of declining production.

* White sugar LSUc1 retreated 1% to $413.60 a ton.

* Indian sugar mills are unlikely to export their full allocation of 1.5 million tons in the current 2025/26 marketing year ending in September, a senior industry official said on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Nigel Hunt
Editing by David Goodman, Kirsten Donovan)

((nigel.hunt@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0) 7990 561421; Reuters Messaging: nigel.hunt.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net/))