Cocoa: Appearances are deceiving

November 17, 2016 at 9:30 AM , Der AUDITOR
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LONDON. After a slow start into the new season, farmers have now increased the speed with which they deliver cocoa beans.

The reason for the weak start of the season is seen by the ICCO (International Cocoa Association) in the disappointing results of the mid crop. The quality of the beans suffered from the drought, which is why the farmers held the beans back to later mix them in with the considerably better beans of the main crop.

 

Deliveries are catching up
Good conditions, such as lavish rainfall, ensure positive forecasts and there is even talk of a carry-over of cocoa beans for season 2016/17. The ports on the Ivory Coast, however, registered only 252,000 mt up until 06. November 2016, a decrease at that time of 30% compared with the same time last year (362,000 mt). The Ghana Cocoa Board registered 200,000 mt. Since then, deliveries to the Ivory Coast’s ports rose to 316,000 mt of cocoa beans, which is only 23% less than in the previous year (approx. 410,500 mt).

 

production figures

country

mt

Ivory Coast

252,000

Ghana

200,000

status: 06.11.2016

 

 

 

3-year low
The processing figures for Europe and Asia were able to meet expectations for the third quarter of 2016, although very differently. North American processors, though, have increased their production rate only minimally by 0.5%. Market participants had counted on more. The processing figures in total paint a much more positive picture than is actually the case. There were decidedly less cocoa beans processed on the Ivory Coast in season 2015/16 than the previous year.
Prices are moving steadily downward and are at the lowest level on the New York Exchange at 2,392 USD/mt (2,225 EUR/mt) than they have been since August 2013.

 

processing figures

area

mt

diff.

Europe

343,935

2.90%

Asia

167,637

12.45%

USA

124,412

0.50%

3rd quarter 2016

Attached Files

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cocoa beans, 3.517-2.1

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