SOFTS-Cocoa hits eight-month low on weak demand data; sugar up on Coke

NEW YORK, July 17 (Reuters) - Cocoa futures on ICE fell more than 4% to their lowest in more than eight months on Thursday after worse-than-expected demand data from Europe and Asia.

Sugar futures rose in part due to possible higher use in the United States, while coffee retreated.

COCOA

* London cocoa LCCc1 ​​settled down 258 pounds, or 5.1%, to 4,803 pounds per ton, having hit its lowest since late October at $4,698.

* New York cocoa CCc1 lost 4.3% to $7,309 a ton, after touching its lowest since early November at $6,700.

* Data earlier showed Europe's second-quarter cocoa grind, a measure of demand, fell 7.2% from a year earlier to its lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Asia's second-quarter grind fell by 16.3%

* Dealers noted that the Asia figure was the lowest since 2017 and that the Europe figure was below market expectations.

* Barry Callebaut BARN.S, by far the world's largest chocolatier, this month cut its volume guidance for the year to August 31 by 7%, saying high cocoa prices and uncertainty over U.S. tariffs had prompted its customers to buy less.

COFFEE

* Arabica coffee KCc2 settled down 1.25 cents, or 0.4%, at $3.072 per lb, having hit a three-week high of $3.0995 on Wednesday.

* Robusta coffee fell 3.4% at $3,312 a ton.

* Coffee prices, especially arabica, have been rallying since the U.S. said last week it will impose 50% tariffs on all imports from top coffee grower Brazil come August 1.

* On Wednesday, however, Brazilian coffee exporters group Cecafe said there are advanced discussions over the 50% tariff and it was not working with the hypothesis of a break in the supply of coffee to the U.S.

* About a third of U.S. coffee comes from Brazil and the tariffs, if they transpire, would all but halt the flow of Brazilian beans to the U.S., the world's top coffee drinker.

* Separately, Cecafe said that Brazilian green coffee exports in June fell 31% from a year earlier and were down 5.4% in the full 2024/25 July-June coffee season.

SUGAR

* Raw sugar SBc1 settled up 0.18 cent, or 1.1%, at 16.74 cents per lb while white sugar LSUc1 gained 1.1% to $484.00 a ton.

* U.S. President Donald Trump said Coca-Cola KO.N had agreed to use cane sugar in its beverages in the United States. Coca-Cola produced for the U.S. market is typically sweetened with corn syrup.

* Dealers said the news was one factor behind sugar gains on Thursday.