Cocoa prices hover at 45-year highs as lagging harvests kick off 3rd season of shortages


Filip De Mott
Mon, November 20, 2023

Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Cocoa prices are hovering around 45-year highs as futures trade over $4,000 per metric ton.

Bad weather and concerns over crop disease led to lagging harvests, Bloomberg reported.

Similar factors have also dragged down the supply of sugar, driving its price up.

Cocoa prices are trading at levels not seen in 45 years, as a supply crunch in the commodity drags on for another year.

Prices dipped on Monday, but a string of earlier gains helped push US cocoa futures above $4,000 per metric ton, contributing to an appreciation of over 40% for the year.

It's a price not seen since 1978, Bloomberg reported, and surpasses the 2011 peak that resulted from that year's Ivory Coast export ban on cocoa. But it's still well below the 1977's high of $5,379 per metric ton.

This time around, delayed harvests are exacerbating shortages that have been ongoing for two years, and the supply crunch is heading into a third year.

Harvesting seasons in both Ghana and the Ivory Coast have fallen behind the pace set last year, with bad weather and crop disease concerns driving the lag.

In late October, bean deliveries to Ivory Coast ports were 16% behind this season, a source told Bloomberg.

Outlooks also remain dim as El Nino threatens to dry out West Africa, a detriment to growers. This comes against rising global demand, with processing improving in Europe, Brazil, and the Ivory Coast.

Poor weather and dismal harvests have also weighed on commodities such as sugar, driving its price to a high not seen for over a decade. Poor production in India has led to export curbs on the commodity, in the government's bid to keep domestic sugar prices stable.