London — Estimates of world cocoa production, ending stocks and grindings have been revised by the International Cocoa Organization for the 2009/2010 cocoa year.

As of August 1, grinding figures are raised from 3.62 to 3.63 million tons, while ending stocks were adjusted to make the stocks-to-grindings ratio jump three-tenths of a percentage point to 44.9 percent.

Overall grindings estimates show a 4.1 percent year-on-year increase.

“The revised estimates are virtually unchanged, so they’re not giving any new direction to the market,” says economist and commodities expert Tom Earley, of Promar International. “They do, however, imply that supplies continue to be tight and as grindings equal demand, I suspect uncertainty about the 2010/2011 crop is driving the market at this point.”