The cocoa price in New York has increased significantly and reached an 18-month high of US$2,637/ton in the week beginning Monday 11 November 2019.
Commerzbank Research said traders are blaming the surge on concerns about short-term availability.
“It is not clear why supply should be tight in the short-term,” Commerzbank said. “Shipments from Côte d’Ivoire are in full swing and totalled 446,000 tons from the start of the harvest in early October up to and including 10 November. This puts them 5.7 per cent above the corresponding period last year.
“What is more, weather conditions are favourable. It is possible that the high buying interest is also due to the additional price premium of US$400/ton that will have to be paid by buyers from next crop year.”
Ghana has already contracted 200,000 tons of cocoa from the 2020/21 crop, including the US$400 premium.
At the time of writing the price was US$2,669/ton.
This article first appeared in www.coffeeandcocoa.net
