Volatility Has ‘Completely Changed’ Coffee, Cocoa Trade, Says Top Banker

Cocoa and coffee futures both surged in New York, hitting records near the start of this year. 

Photographer: Muhammad Fadli/Bloomberg

Decades-old business models for coffee and cocoa trading have been upended as firms adapt to higher and more volatile prices by moving away from longer-term trades, according to one of the industry’s top bankers.

Traders have now “completely changed their way of working,” to cope with a futures curve in backwardation, where spot trades higher than futures, Antoine Mangin, group head soft desk and agriculture, trade commodity finance at ING Groep NV, said in an interview.