Cocoa Prices Recover After Tuesday's Sharp Drop on West African Weather
Commodity
Cocoa prices continued to recover on Wednesday, retracing more of Tuesday's sharp declines when both New York and London cocoa fell by more than 4% on reports of exceptional growing conditions in Ivory Coast and Ghana. September ICE NY cocoa rose 10 points to settle up 0.18%, while September ICE London cocoa gained 10 points, up 0.24%. The recovery came despite data showing Ivory Coast farmers shipped 2.11 million metric tons of cocoa to ports in the current marketing year through August 2, up 20% from a year earlier, and Nigerian cocoa exports in June rose 30% year-over-year to 18,922 metric tons. Bullish factors included Ghana's cocoa regulator COCOBOD projecting 2026/27 production could fall to 450,000 to 550,000 metric tons from 750,000 metric tons projected for 2025/26 due to swollen shoot disease, aging farms, and possible El Niño weather, while StoneX cut its 2026/27 global cocoa surplus estimate to 25,000 metric tons from 149,000 metric tons in April. Cocoa demand was mixed in the second quarter, with European grindings falling 4.6% to 316,366 metric tons, North American grindings unexpectedly rising 7.7% to 109,659 metric tons, and Asian grindings jumping 25% to 224,646 metric tons.
