Jalles Machado SaBMFBOVESPA: JALL3

Cocoa hits 3-week peak as El Nino looms, robusta rallies

· Issued by Jalles Machado Sa

Cocoa futures on ICE hit three-week highs on Wednesday amid fears that the El Nino weather pattern will harm next season's output, while robusta coffee hit three-month peaks.

COCOA

  • London cocoa ICEEUR:C2! ​settled up £4, or 0.1%, to £3,161 per metric ton, having settled up 6.4% on Tuesday. The contract earlier hit its highest since late May at £3,257.

  • The market has been supported by indications the El Nino weather pattern may significantly crimp 2026/27 output in West Africa and in No. 3 producer Ecuador.

  • Broker StoneX said analysts were already reducing their forecasts for top grower Ivory Coast after crop surveys showed "no meaningful recovery of (cocoa) pod setting and counts".

  • The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration sees a 63% probability of a very strong or "super El Niño" heading into 2027.

  • "If the forecast materialises, the El Niño would be one of the largest in NOAA’s historical record dating back to 1950," Rabobank said.

  • New York cocoa ICEUS:CC1! rose 0.1% to $4,237 a ton.

COFFEE

  • Arabica coffee ICEUS:KC1! settled down 0.9 cent, or 0.3%, at $2.719 per lb, having settled up 5.2% on Tuesday.

  • Robusta coffee ICEEUR:RC2! rose 0.7% to $3,622 a ton, having hit its highest since late March at $3,659.

  • Brazil's top coffee co-operative Cooxupe said its farmers had harvested 15.8% of their 2026 crop as of June 14, the lowest percentage in four years as El Nino-linked rains disrupted picking last week.

  • Despite the rains, Brazil crop size would not change, although quality could suffer.

  • "The crop story is still bearish," GSZ Commodities said. "Rain slows harvest and dents quality, but the record crop still caps rallies unless the damage broadens," it said.

  • El Niño is especially problematic for robusta as it typically brings high temperatures and reduced rains to Vietnam and Indonesia.

    SUGAR

  • Raw sugar ICEUS:SB1! settled up 0.03 cent, or 0.2%, at 13.85 cents per lb, having hit a near two-month low of 13.56 cents on Tuesday.

  • Energy price declines continue to pressure the market by tempting cane mills to produce less ethanol fuel and more sugar.

  • Brazil's Jalles Machado BMFBOVESPA:JALL3 expects its 2026/27 sugar production to fall by 4.2% to 418,100 tons, while ethanol output is seen rising 18%.

  • Longer term, however, there are fears El Nino will curb production.

  • Brazil sugar output fell sharply in late May, the government said.

  • White sugar ICEUS:SF1! gained 0.5% to $452.20 a ton.

  • Ukraine's white sugar output is expected to fall to 1.2-1.3 million tons this year from 1.7 million tons in 2025.

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