Dealers said a record Brazilian crop last year had ensured supplies were plentiful, with other producers such as Honduras struggling to compete. Supplies from the Central American country are ending up in exchange stocks. "Surplus Hondurans keep arabica certified stocks on the rise as roaster demand has been filled by Brazils," broker Marex Spectron said in a market note.
ICE certified arabica stocks currently stand at 2.50 million bags, including 1.54 million bags from Honduras. A year ago there were 1.93 million in total and about 890,000 bags from Honduras. May robusta coffee was up $8, or 0.5 percent, at $1,493 a tonne.
May raw sugar was down 0.17 cents, or 1.3 percent, at 12.67 cents per lb, giving back some of the prior session's strong gains. Strong crude oil prices however helped to underpin the market, adding to the attraction of using cane in Brazil to make ethanol rather than sugar.
They also noted demand for the biofuel had been strong. "Brazilian ethanol demand has been exceptional during the intercrop period and could support the market in the coming year, especially if the Brazilian economy were to recover," Rabobank said in a market note. May white sugar fell $6.10, or 1.8 percent, to $340.60 a tonne.
Sugar merchant Alvean's chief executive Gareth Griffiths has decided to step down and will be replaced by Paulo Roberto de Souza, the company said on Tuesday. May London cocoa was 2 pounds, or 0.1 percent, lower at 1,652 pounds a tonne, weakened by a stronger pound.
May New York cocoa was up $4, or 0.2 percent, at $2,200 a tonne. Abundant showers in most of Ivory Coast's cocoa regions last week augured well for the April-to-September mid-crop, farmers said on Monday, despite concerns over below-average rainfall in the centre of the country.