Lower cocoa crop in Ivory Coast pushes cocoa prices high

The front-month futures contract for cocoa traded in London increased by 0.5% yesterday and recorded £2,260 per ton. With this figure, it reached to a four year high.

Analysts believe that due to fears of dry weather, the price increased, which prevailed in the growing areas of Ivory Coast in August and September could have hampered the main crop which is currently being harvested. Therefore, some traders assume that the recent high cocoa bean shipments to Ivorian ports will decrease sharply, says Commerzbank.

The cocoa price traded in New York closed 1% up at $3,313 per ton, which is only marginally below the seven-week high it achieved on Wednesday.