Arabica coffee futures declined 4% to $3.2215 per pound on Wednesday, erasing gains from a six-week high of $3.4565 reached the prior session.
The retreat followed updated data from Brazil’s largest coffee cooperative, Cooxupé, showing producers had harvested 87.5% of the 2026 crop by August 21. This compares with 81.1% the previous week and 91.3% during the same period last year, signaling a faster-than-expected pace but also raising questions about remaining supply tightness.
Certified exchange inventories totaled 225,442 bags on August 25, down from 229,214 bags the prior week and sharply below 729,934 bags in the same week of 2025, underscoring continued short-term supply constraints despite the advancing harvest.
The market also reacted to weather forecasts indicating weak rains ahead for Brazil’s coffee-growing regions, which could improve prospects for next year’s crop even as this season winds down. Analysts noted that near-term support remains tied to limited certified stocks and ongoing supply tightness.
In related agricultural markets, robusta coffee fell 2.1% to $3,614 per metric ton, while raw sugar rose 1.9% to 17.59 cents per pound. White sugar declined 0.6% to $514 per ton.
French sugar producer Tereos warned that extreme summer heat and drought would reduce sugar beet productivity by more than 20% compared with last year, contributing to projections of EU sugar output hitting a 38-year low. The company’s outlook added pressure to sugar markets already sensitive to potential production declines linked to El Niño conditions in key growing regions.
