Coffee and cocoa slide as Trump tariffs spark demand worries

LONDON (Reuters) -World cocoa and coffee prices fell on Wednesday as investors fretted that President Donald Trump's move to slap punishing tariffs on U.S. imports would damage chocolate and coffee demand in the world's top consumer of the products.

Sugar prices also fell, caught in the melee of tariffs as the U.S. is also one of the world's top sugar importers.

Trump said he would impose a 10% baseline tariff on all U.S. imports, taking the maximum to more than 50% for some countries and unleashing turbulence across world markets as investors fret about the end of a decades long era of trade liberalisation.

Top robusta growers Vietnam and Indonesia were targeted with 46% and 32% tariffs, respectively, top arabica and sugar grower Brazil was hit with 10% tariffs for its goods, while top cocoa growers Ivory Coast and Ghana face 21% and 10% tariffs.

The U.S. is also a major importer of processed cocoa products like butter and powder from the EU, Malaysia and Indonesia. Trump slapped 20% tariffs on EU imports and 24% on Malaysian goods, while the 32% tariffs on Indonesia of course apply to both robusta coffee and to cocoa products.

"We don't know the (full) impact right now (but) there are no winners, this is bad for everyone. For the U.S. its inflationary while others loose access to the U.S., a huge market," said a Europe-based coffee trader.

At 1554 GMT, arabica coffee futures on the ICE exchange, seen as a global price benchmark, were down 0.7% at $3.8605 per lb, having earlier fallen nearly 3%, while robusta coffee futures slipped 0.1% to $5,393 a metric ton, having earlier fallen 2.5%.

London cocoa futures were down 1.9% at 6,654 pounds per ton, having earlier fallen nearly 5%, while New York cocoa was up 3.3% at $9,262 a ton, having earlier risen nearly 6%.

Dealers said New York cocoa was being boosted by weakness in the dollar as the harsher-than-expected Trump tariffs sent investors scrambling for bonds and gold.

A weak dollar makes dollar-priced cocoa cheaper for non-U.S. investors. Sterling for example gained versus the dollar, making sterling priced London cocoa more expensive for investors outside Britain and prompting them to sell.

In other soft commodities traded, raw sugar ​​fell 2.2% to 19.17 cents per lb​, while white sugar sank 1.5% to $544.70 a ton.

(Reporting by May Angel; editing by David Evans)

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