Global cocoa prices hit 25 year high
Thursday, 10 December 2009
LONDON, Dec 9 (Commodity Online): Global cocoa prices hit their highest levels for 25 years on supply fears.
Liffe March cocoa rose 1 per cent to £2,249 a tonne, the highest level since February 1985 amid ongoing concerns that the global market would face a supply deficit for a fourth successive year in 2009-2010, due to disease affecting yields in Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer.
Liffe May cocoa, the benchmark from mid-December, which already has more liquidity than the March contract, was 0.9 per cent higher at £2,266 a tonne.
High prices are drawing sellers in Ivory Coast and Indonesia, the world's third-largest producer. At the Ivorian ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, cocoa bean deliveries have risen 57 per cent to 382,227 tonnes since the start of the new season on October 1, compared with the same period a year ago.
Exports of cocoa beans from Indonesia's Sulawesi island, the main growing region, rose 40 per cent to 33,329 tonnes in November, compared with the same month a year ago, according to the Indonesian Cocoa Association.
Last week, Indonesia's agriculture ministry said cocoa output could increase 7.2 per cent to 849,875 tonnes this year from 792,761 tonnes in the previous season.
ICE March cocoa reversed early weakness and traded 0.6 per cent higher at $3,383 a tonne.
Liffe March cocoa rose 1 per cent to £2,249 a tonne, the highest level since February 1985 amid ongoing concerns that the global market would face a supply deficit for a fourth successive year in 2009-2010, due to disease affecting yields in Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer.
Liffe May cocoa, the benchmark from mid-December, which already has more liquidity than the March contract, was 0.9 per cent higher at £2,266 a tonne.
High prices are drawing sellers in Ivory Coast and Indonesia, the world's third-largest producer. At the Ivorian ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, cocoa bean deliveries have risen 57 per cent to 382,227 tonnes since the start of the new season on October 1, compared with the same period a year ago.
Exports of cocoa beans from Indonesia's Sulawesi island, the main growing region, rose 40 per cent to 33,329 tonnes in November, compared with the same month a year ago, according to the Indonesian Cocoa Association.
Last week, Indonesia's agriculture ministry said cocoa output could increase 7.2 per cent to 849,875 tonnes this year from 792,761 tonnes in the previous season.
ICE March cocoa reversed early weakness and traded 0.6 per cent higher at $3,383 a tonne.