Arabica coffee touches one-month high amid low stocks, strong Brazil currency

By Reuters News

LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Arabica coffee futures on ICE hit a fresh one-month high on Monday amid still critically low exchange stocks and as top grower Brazil's real currency strengthened. Sugar and cocoa headed lower meanwhile.

COFFEE

* Arabica coffee rose 1.5% to $3.1030 per lb at 1309 GMT, having gained 6.5% last week. It earlier hit a one-month high of $3.1380.

* Boosting coffee, the Brazilian real continued to strengthen, boosted by expectations Flavio Bolsonaro will be elected president.

* A strong real deters exporters from selling by lowering their returns in local currency terms.

* Elsewhere, ICE-certified stocks were last at 240,767 bags, not far off last month's 27-year-low of 217,646 bags.

* Market participants are growing nervous that Brazil supplies will not arrive at ICE warehouses ahead of the December contract expiry.

* Robusta coffee rose 1.5% to $3,454 a metric ton.

* Top robusta grower Vietnam's coffee output is likely to remain steady in the 2026/27 season as stronger production from younger, replanted trees offsets losses linked to unfavourable weather earlier this year.

* The relief for global markets could be relatively short lived however as this year's El Niño weather pattern, which some meteorologists say is the strongest on record, is expected to heavily impact next season's crop.

COCOA

* London cocoa ​slipped 0.3% to £4,344 a ton, after setting a 1-1/2-month high of £4,640 on Wednesday on signs of improved demand for the chocolate ingredient.

* Cocoa arrivals at ports in top grower Ivory Coast reached 37,000 metric tons in the week ending October 18, exporters estimated, down 55.9% from the same week a year ago.

* Dry weather across most of Ivory Coast's cocoa belt last week raised concerns about potential damage to pods for next year's harvest, farmers said.

* New York cocoa rose 0.2% to $5,655 a ton, having set a one-month peak last Wednesday.

SUGAR

* Raw sugar fell 1.6% to 20.51 cents per lb​​, having hit a 19-month peak of 21.29 last Wednesday.

* Sugar is consolidating after rallying on excess El Nino-linked rains in top grower Brazil, which slowed production in September and reduced the sucrose in the cane.

* Elsewhere, Indian sugar stocks fell after the government directed oil marketing companies to reduce sugar diversion for ethanol production to zero for the 2026/27 supply year.

* The move is aimed at increasing domestic sugar availability and easing record high prices in India, the world's biggest sugar consumer and No 2 producer.

* White sugar fell 1.5% to $546.20 a ton.

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