Raw sugar futures on ICE closed up 1.9% at 18.70 cents per pound on Wednesday, marking a 16-month high after a 3.1% gain the prior session. The contract reached an intraday peak of 18.77 cents, the highest since April 2025.
White sugar futures rose 1% to $539.20 per metric ton. The rally in raw sugar was driven by supply tightness, elevated domestic prices in India, and reduced output expectations in the European Union and Thailand. An Indian trader noted that a government request to advance harvests to ease price pressure could compromise crop maturity and future yields.
In Brazil, the largest sugar producer, forecasters anticipate at least 50 millimeters of rainfall over the next ten days in the Ribeirão Preto region, likely disrupting ongoing harvesting operations.
Arabica coffee futures fell 3.7% to $2.981 per pound, the lowest level in five weeks. Robusta coffee declined 1.6% to $3,406 per ton, also touching a 2.5-month low. The decline followed reports of recovering Brazilian exports as the harvest season nears completion. Cooxupé, Brazil’s largest coffee cooperative, reported that 91.9% of the 2026 crop had been harvested by August 28, up from 87.5% a week earlier but below the 94.9% recorded in the same period last year.
Traders cited increased export activity and exporter hedging in futures markets as key pressure points. Ilya Byzov, a trader at Sucafina, said higher prices over the past two weeks, combined with the end of the harvest, had pushed Brazilian differentials to attractive levels for exporters, prompting additional buying and futures hedging.
Cocoa futures retreated after surging to one-year highs earlier in the week. London cocoa dropped 4.9% to £4,579 per ton, while New York cocoa fell 4.5% to $6,273 per ton. Analysts at BMI noted that while Ivory Coast’s 2026/27 crop is expected to decline, a global surplus is still anticipated to narrow to 82,000 tons from 442,000 tons in 2025/26. A Mondelez International executive said large cocoa inventories should mitigate the impact of adverse weather on production.
