London cocoa slips after hitting more than 2-1/2-year peak

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LONDON/NEW YORK — London cocoa futures slipped on Thursday after hitting more than 2-1/2-year peaks earlier, boosted by a dock workers strike in Ivory Coast and rising tensions between the world’s top cocoa producer and the chocolate industry.

Arabica coffee hit a fresh 15-month low.

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COCOA

* March London cocoa ​​settled down 20 pounds, or 1.0%, at 2,032 pounds per tonne​, after peaking at 2,059 pounds – the highest since February 2020.

* Port arrivals in Ivory Coast have been running well below last season’s pace, thanks to a dock workers strike in San Pedro, one of the nation’s two main ports.

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* Dealers said Ivory Coast and Ghana’s forward sales have meanwhile slowed considerably amid a pricing dispute with industry.

* March New York cocoa ​​settled up $25, or 1.0%, at $2,555 a tonne, after touching $2,567, the highest since May.

COFFEE

* March arabica coffee settled up 5.35 cents, or 3.3%, at $1.677 per lb, after sinking to a fresh 15-month low of $1.6045.

* Brazilian coffee output will grow at least 8% next year, as plantations recover after a smaller-than-expected crop this year, according to Rabobank.

* Dealers said a large inflow of arabica coffee into ICE-approved warehouses remained a bearish influence.

* ICE certified coffee stocks stood at 441,899 bags, as of Nov. 9, climbing further from a recent 23-year low. There were 266,146 bags pending grading.

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* January robusta coffee settled up $8, or 0.4%, at $1,827 a tonne, after dipping to $1,788, the lowest since August 2021.

* Supplies of coffee in top robusta producer Vietnam built up this week as farmers started to pick beans amid weak demand, traders said.

SUGAR

* March raw sugar ​​settled up 0.03 cents, or 0.2%, at 19.41 cents per lb​​, after matching a 3-1/2-month peak of 19.43 cents from Wednesday.

* Brazilian industry group Unica said Brazil’s center-south region produced 2.11 million tonnes of sugar in the second half of October.

* S&P Global Commodity Insights forecast the region would produce just 1.88 million tonnes.

* December white sugar ​​settled up $11.60, or 2.1%, at $555.10 a tonne. (Reporting by Maytaal Angel and Stephanie Kelly; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle, Jonathan Oatis and Richard Chang)