NEW YORK/LONDON: Arabica coffee futures on ICE were sharply lower on Monday as lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 raised concerns about the demand outlook, with rising exchange stocks and weakness in Brazil's real currency also bearish factors.

Cocoa futures also closed down, while raw sugar ended up.

COFFEE

* March arabica coffee settled down 2.25 cents, or 1.8%, at $1.2145 per lb, after dipping to a low of $1.1910 earlier in the session, the weakest for the front month since mid-December.

* Dealers said Brazil's real currency, which fell to its weakest since November, exerted downward pressure on prices.

* A weak real boosts dollar-denominated prices in local currency terms in Brazil and can spark producer selling in the world's top coffee producer.

* Dealers said the recent rise in certified stocks also weighed on the market. Certified arabica stocks rose to 1.49 million bags on Monday. 

* March robusta coffee settled down $3, or 0.2%, at $1,315 a tonne.

 

COCOA

* March New York cocoa  settled down $36, or 1.4%, to $2,480 a tonne on concerns that coronavirus lockdowns across Europe could further curb demand while upcoming fourth-quarter grind data would be closely monitored.

* "Origin has ample supplies to sell right now. There are a lot of demand worries due to the coronavirus," said a U.S-based broker, adding that upcoming grinding data will give the market key data on demand.

* North American grind data is due to be released on Jan. 14 and provisional European data on Jan. 20.

* March London cocoa settled down 7 pounds, or 0.4%, to 1,679 pounds per tonne?.

 

SUGAR

* March raw sugar closed up 0.07 cent at 15.67 cents per lb. The front month had climbed to a peak of 16.33 cents last week, its highest since May 2017.

* Fund buying helped to fuel the recent run-up and the latest CFTC data, for the week to Jan. 5, showed a significant expansion in the net long position held by speculators. 

* Short-term supply tightness, driven partly by a poor crop in Thailand, continued to underpin prices, particularly in the whites market.

* March white sugar was up $3.20 at $437.90 a tonne.

(Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira and Nigel Hunt Editing by David Evans and David Goodman) ((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters Messaging: marcelo.teixeira.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net - https://twitter.com/tx_marcelo))