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CSCE cocoa ends up, awaits Ivory Coast arrivals

NEW YORK: CSCE cocoa futures continued to climb on Wednesday, posting their third successive gain since last week's breakdown, as traders await the latest arrivals figures from Ivory Coast.

"Today is Wednesday and everybody is beginning to ask whether the arrivals are still that good, but nobody's got a number yet. We're still waiting on that," one trader said.

Active May added $10 to close at $788 a tonne, just off the day's high of $790, trading down to an intraday low of $770. Spot March cocoa rose $6 to $759 whilst the rest of the board rose by $10-$16 higher.

Bean prices dropped briefly on the open, but speculators bought it when there was a lack of follow through to the downside.

"It looked like a little commission-house-type short covering keeping things steady in here," one broker said.

He added that there was some light industry and trade buying at the lows in early trading.

Once bean prices managed to rally past unchanged, they spent the rest of the day attempting to stay above the previous day's highs.

"Once it got above the high, it was able to hold and it looked like a little bit of late trade-type buying the Mays and Julys," one broker said.

One floor trader said that pressure had eased on the market as London's spot March contract went into notice period without a large number of contracts "being dumped on the market for tender".

LIFFE cocoa ended mostly at the highs on Wednesday, with switch trading accounting for the majority of business. Active May gained five pounds to 579 pounds a tonne, whilst March was 15 pounds higher to 540 pounds.

In industry news, the European Commission said on Wednesday it would limit high sugar content cocoa powder imports from European Union countries' overseas territories (OCTs) to protect its own over-supplied sugar market.

It will accept a maximum of 3,340 tonnes of cocoa powder containing 65 percent sucrose and isoglucose or more between March 1 and September 30 from the OCTs, the EU's Official Journal said.

Volume traded on Wednesday was estimated at 4,655 lots, compared to Tuesday's official tally of 4,574 lots.

Traders pegged support in CSCE May at $753, followed by $750, whilst nearby resistance was seen at $805/812.

The CSCE is a subsidiary of the New York Board of Trade. -Reuters