Cocoa Futures Slump More Than 14% as Speculators Liquidate

FOOD COMMODITY - NEW YORK. Prices for cocoa futures traded on the ICE exchange fell more than 14% on Monday, posting their largest one-day loss ever, as speculators decided to liquidate part of their long positions in the commodity and take profit.

Cocoa is currently the hottest commodity in the market, with prices jumping 60% last year and more than 100% this year so far. A dismal production situation in West Africa, where most of the beans are grown, led to the sharp price gain.

The rally, however, showed signs of weakness last week when prices failed to continue their climb. Market experts say that was the sign investors were waiting for to start to put money in the pocket.

"Today's action looks to be, in my opinion, a long overdue corrective decline triggered by a weakening technical picture," said a New York-based cocoa trader.

"I think the market was swamped by long liquidation, short selling and plenty of intraday trading," he said.

"What we see today is technical selling," said a second U.S. trader, adding that some investors have also started to short the market, betting that prices have peaked.

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July New York cocoa on ICE ​​settled down $1,663, or 15.7%, to $8,931 a metric ton. July London cocoa ​​fell 14.5% to 7,678 pounds per ton.

Despite the sharp daily loss, the situation for the cocoa market did not change, said Leonardo Rossetti, a soft commodities analyst with broker StoneX.

"Market fundamentals remain solid. We have tight supplies and a resilient demand, so I do not see this market deepening too much," he said.

Rossetti noted data released on Monday on cocoa arrivals in top grower Ivory Coast, which are down 29% in the season.

In other soft commodities, July robusta coffee settled up $13, or 0.3%, at $4,164 a ton. The contract hit a record high last week of $4,338.

The robusta coffee market is also very tight on the supply side, and there are concerns about hot, dry weather in top robusta producer Vietnam.

July arabica coffee rose 1.6% to $2.2750 per lb.

May raw sugar ​gained 4.1% at 20.20 cents per lb. Dealers said that about 1 to 1.5 million tons of mostly Brazilian sugar was expected to be delivered against the May contract that will expire on Tuesday.

August white sugar rose 1.8% at $573.80 a ton.