Cococa Tumbles to 32-Month Low as Supplies Climb in Ivory Coast, Ghana
Cocoa fell to a 32-month low on signs of rising supplies in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s biggest producers. Sugar and coffee also dropped.
For the season that started Oct. 1, cocoa deliveries to ports in Ivory Coast, the top grower, rose 6 percent through Nov. 27, a document from the industry’s regulator showed. Purchases from farmers in Ghana climbed 21 percent in the first five weeks of the harvest, according to Kwabena Asante Poku, the deputy chief executive officer of the Ghana Cocoa Board.
“The market is well supplied,” Sterling Smith, an analyst with Country Hedging in St. Paul, Minnesota, said in a telephone interview. Cocoa is trading at a “discount in the cash market,” signaling ample production, he said.
Cocoa for March delivery dropped 2.6 percent to settle at $2,228 a metric ton at 12:12 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching $2,218, the lowest for a most-active contract since March 2009. Prices have slumped for seven straight sessions.
The chocolate ingredient retreated 6.4 percent this week, the most since September, and has plunged 27 percent this year.
Raw-sugar futures for March delivery slipped 0.6 percent to 23.45 cents a pound in New York. For the week, the sweetener rose 2.4 percent, paring this year’s decline to 27 percent.
Arabica-coffee futures for March delivery fell 2.6 percent to $2.2955 a pound. The price, which slid 1.3 percent this week, is down 4.6 percent in 2011.
Prices also fell today as the dollar gained as much as 0.6 percent against a basket of six major currencies, reducing the appeal of raw materials as alternative assets, said Hernando de la Roche, the director of futures with INTL FCStone in Miami.
In London futures trading, cocoa, refined sugar and robusta coffee declined on NYSE Liffe.
To contact the reporter on this story: Marvin G. Perez in New York at mperez71@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Stroth at sstroth@bloomberg.net
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