Cocoa Heads for Biggest Weekly Gain in Four on Supply Concerns

By Marianne Stigset

Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Cocoa headed for its biggest weekly gain in four in London on concern over declining supply from Ivory Coast, the world’s biggest grower.

Exports from the Ivory Coast ports for shipment fell 30 percent in November from a year earlier. Shipments of the beans dropped to 79,297 metric tons, from 113,193 tons, according to data supplied by the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro yesterday. Exports were also hit by a six-day wage strike in Abidjan that ended yesterday, according to the National Dockers’ Association.

“For the time being and until we have strong technical and fundamental evidence to the contrary, there is only one way, and that is up,” Stephanie Garner, a cocoa trader at Sucden (U.K.) Ltd., said in an e-mailed report today.

Cocoa for March delivery rose 16 pounds, or 0.9 percent, to 1,806 pounds ($2,706) as of 11:25 a.m. on London’s Liffe exchange. The beans have gained 8.1 percent this week, the biggest advance since the week ending Nov. 21, and have climbed 73 percent this year.

Cocoa futures for March delivery climbed $3, or 0.1 percent, to $2,675 a ton on ICE Futures U.S. in New York.

Exports of cocoa beans from the port of Abidjan, in the east, fell to 31,864 tons from 58,494 tons a year earlier, while the western port of San Pedro shipped 47,433 tons, down from 54,699 tons in the same month a year earlier, according to the data.

Stockpiles

The eastern port of Abidjan handles about 40 percent of the country’s cocoa shipments, while the smaller port of San Pedro, in the west, ships the rest. Ivory Coast’s mid-crop is collected from April through September after the main harvest is completed in February and March.

Cocoa stockpiles in warehouses monitored by the Liffe exchange rose 13 percent to 183,890 tons in the two weeks ended Dec. 15, according to data from the exchange. Robusta coffee inventories totaled 32,556 lots, each equal to 5 metric tons, compared with 32,335 lots two weeks earlier.

Among other agricultural commodities, robusta coffee for March delivery fell $20, or 1.2 percent, to $1,654 a ton. White sugar for March delivery slipped $3.40, or 1 percent, to $322.10 a ton.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marianne Stigset in Oslo at mstigset@bloomberg.net