Saturday October 27, 2012

Ample Supply Causes Cocoa Prices To Fall

Cleveland — Cocoa scheduled for delivery in December fell $99 Wednesday, ending at $2,399 per metric ton. This four percent fall is in contrast to the six percent price increase the week prior and predictions that prices would continue to rise as a result of the strengthening U.S. economy and increased demand.

Previously, the price had been on the fall after reaching a 2012 high of $2,691 per metric ton on September 6 before declining almost 11 percent.

Productive cocoa harvests in Ivory Coast, Nigeria and West Africa as well as poor economic conditions in Europe, where the world's largest number of chocolate consumers reside, have contributed to the price decrease.

However, according to Tom Earley, commodities expert at Agralytica, a food and agriculture consulting company, these figures do not necessarily indicate any substantial price differences in the final products for retailers.

“I don't see any real directional cost change in the near term,” Earley says. “I don't feel like its been varying a whole lot.”