Dealers pointed to the stronger British pound on Wednesday. Cocoa stocks from top grower Ivory Coast were also in focus, with dealers noting that supplies were poised to remain plentiful despite a recent slowdown in port arrivals.
"The arrivals are definitely slowing down a bit," said one European dealer. "However, we see a good end to the main crop and a strong start to the mid-crop as well. So there's definitely no lack of supply from Ivory Coast." Barry Callebaut saw first-quarter sales volumes rise 1.7 percent, just short of expectations. Global confectionery sales also grew by just 1.4 percent, data released as part of the company's results showed.
However, market participants shrugged off these more modest results, noting that physical demand for cocoa butter - a key ingredient in chocolate - remained strong as stocks in Europe were tightening. "Demand is still quite robust," the dealer noted. "The industry is running down their cover, so they need to replenish it and start buying the market at some point soon."
May New York cocoa fell $9, or 0.4 percent, to $2,272 a tonne, hovering near the previous day's one-month low of $2,266 a tonne. March white sugar rose $1.50, or 0.4 percent, to $350.10 a tonne. March raw sugar was up 0.01 cents, or 0.1 percent, at 12.94 cents per lb, after falling sharply in the previous session.
"The recent rains have taken some of the weather risk off the table for the sugar bulls and there is a need for them to see a sustained momentum in the oil market," Sucden Financial's Thomas Kujawa said in an update. March arabica coffee rose 0.20 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $1.0355 per lb.
March robusta coffee was up $4, or 0.3 percent, at $1,520 a tonne, after slipping to a three-week low of $1,507. India is likely to produce 319,500 tonnes of coffee in 2018/19, down nearly 16 percent from the previous estimate, after heavy rainfall hit yields in the top two growing states.