Posts Tagged ‘cocoa prices’

Cocoa Prices – The Continuing Saga

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

Click for Prices

The roller coaster of cocoa prices continues. Since the December 16 high of $3,636/ton, cocoa prices have dropped by almost $600/ton as measured by the ICCO Daily Price. There hasn’t been much in terms of news that might warrant this decline. Yes, production in the current year is higher than previously expected, but the surplus of 80,000 tons (as predicted by the ICCO according to a Bloomberg article) isn’t very much in light of previous four years of deficits.

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Invisible Hand Is Confused

Friday, February 12th, 2010

The rational way to determine prices

For anyone believing in the power of markets to accurately predict the future, this week was a challenge. On Wednesday, Business Week reported that cocoa prices were dropping on “concerns supply will outpace demand.” Cocoa butter has been piling up in Europe with stocks reaching 50,000 tons. Inventories in NY are rising as well. Finally, a bank projection puts the production of the top three growers (Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia) at 2.59 million tons, about 160,000 tons more than last year. So the speculators got out of the game.

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Ghana Increases Producer Price Again

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

My first post in the new year reports some good news for Ghanaian cocoa farmers. On January 8, Ghana’s Cocoa Board increased producer prices from G¢2208 ($1,530) to G¢2400 (1,663) per ton.

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Ivorian Harvest Much Better Than Expected, So Far…

Monday, November 23rd, 2009
Pods ready for harvest

Pods ready for harvest

News of the decline of Ivorian cocoa production might be premature.  I have reported earlier that a consensus estimate put Ivorian output for the current cocoa year at 1-1.15 million tons, quite a bit below the 1.4 million tons the country had achieved only a few years ago. But that consensus is no longer holding.

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Cameroon Farmers Hoard Cocoa, Get Higher Prices

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

Map of Cameroon

Reuters reports that Cameroonian farmers have held back some of their cocoa from the market in order to push prices higher. As a result, prices have increased from CFAF1,150 ($2.66) per kilo in October to CFAF1,375 ($3,18) per kilo in November.

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