Soft commodity prices had a poor month in October, with Coffee (Robusta & Arabica), Cotton, Maize and Rice all slumping, while Wheat & Sugar made minor gains.
Coffee was the worst performer, with Robusta falling by 7.4% and Arabica by 6.9%, in response to signs of ample and rising global supplies of both beans.
Cotton also slumped by 6.6% on the month, after markets were spooked by a slump in Chinese imports and growing expectations of bumper crops in India and the USA.
Maize and Rice also fell during October, by 2.7% and 2.2% respectively, continuing the downward trend in prices over the past year.
Only Wheat and Sugar made marginal gains of 1.2% and 1%, respectively, although both commodities remain substantially down for the year as a whole.
Source Ecobank Research