BLBG; Cocoa Falls as Ivory Coast Crop Nears Record
Cocoa fell in New York on speculation supplies from top producer Ivory Coast will be larger than initially estimated. Coffee and sugar slid.
Output in Ivory Coast may exceed 1.4 million metric tons in the current season, topping a previous record set in the 2003-04 marketing season, Commerzbank AG estimates. Cocoa deliveries to ports in the country rose 24 percent from a year earlier to 1.331 million tons in the season to July 17, a document obtained from the industry’s regulator showed.
“Cocoa deliveries to ports are suggesting the crop in Ivory Coast may be a record this season,” Carsten Fritsch, an analyst at Commerzbank, said by e-mail today. “This is putting pressure on prices for now.”
Cocoa for September delivery lost $18, or 0.6 percent, to $2,997 a ton by 7:32 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Cocoa for September delivery slipped 2 pounds, or 0.1 percent, to 1,871 pounds ($3,064) a ton on NYSE Liffe in London.
The International Cocoa Organization’s estimate of 1.3 million tons of cocoa production in Ivory Coast may be “too modest,” Fritsch said in a report e-mailed yesterday. The beans fell 6 percent in London and 5.7 percent in New York over the past week on signs supplies are ample.
Price declines may be limited by prospects for the new crop starting in October, according to Commerzbank. “Low temperatures and a lack of sunshine in the Ivory Coast’s main growing areas is hampering the development of the cocoa pods,” the bank said in the report.
Favorable Weather
Arabica coffee for September delivery retreated 3.8 cents, or 1.6 percent, to $2.4115 a pound in New York. Robusta coffee for September delivery dropped $55, or 2.5 percent, to $2,118 a ton in London.
Weather in Brazil, the world’s largest producer, has been favorable for coffee production, according to Cepea, a University of Sao Paulo research group. “The critical period of cold temperatures on crops has already passed,” analyst Margarete Boteon wrote in a report yesterday.
Raw sugar for October delivery dropped 0.16 cent, or 0.5 percent, to 30.78 cents a pound on ICE. White, or refined, sugar for October delivery fell $5.40, or 0.7 percent, to $800 a ton on NYSE Liffe.
To contact the reporter on this story: Isis Almeida in London at ialmeida3@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.
