Wednesday, 11 March 2015 13:09
JAKARTA: Asia’s cocoa butter ratios sank further this week, and were at their lowest in 22 months on the back of concerns over weak demand from Europe and chocolate manufacturers holding off buying as they relied more on existing stocks.
Chocolate manufacturers were delaying the usual start-of-the-year cocoa butter purchasing, having previously overbought.
“Normally they would try and buy for the second half early in the year, but this year we see a delay, I think because connectionists feel they have overbought previously,” said a Singapore-based cocoa trader.
The global cocoa market has been hit by high bean prices and slugggish economic conditions that are affecting chocolate demand in top consumers Europe and the United States.
“Things remain quite depressed. This is in part because of the global outlook of the economy is not really promising. Europe is one of the sources of our demand and Europe is not picking up,” a second Jakarta-based cocoa trader added.
Butter ratios, a key indicator of demand, were quoted at 1.90-1.95 times London futures, down from between 1.88 and 2.0 three weeks ago, and their lowest since April 2013.
Powder, meanwhile, climbed slightly to between $ 1,900-$ 2,300 a tonne from $ 1,800-$ 2,200 per tonne three weeks ago.
London cocoa futures rose by more than 13 percent in 2014 boosted partly by forecasts that production may fall this season in Ivory Coast and Ghana, the world’s top two growers.
Industry players would be following this issue closely at a major industry conference taking place on March 10-13 in Miami, traders said.
“We’re watching closely to see what they do next. There is a lot of talk that this year there will be a major deficit in terms of cocoa beans, in that the growers are not producing enough for the grinders to use. That might push futures back up a bit,” the first trader said.
Commodities trader Olam International predicted a global decifit in the cocoa market despite record output by top producer Ivory Cost last season, beause of harsh weather in Ghana.
However, the International Cocoa Organization warned on Monday that the Ivory Coast must avoid over-production that risks a drop in world prices after its output hit a record 1.74 million tonnes last season.
Copyright Reuters, 2015
