Cocoa Trading
Cocoa beans, cocoa butter and cocoa powder are traded on two world exchanges: NYSE Euronext and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). The London market is based on West African cocoa and New York on cocoa predominantly from Southeast Asia. Cocoa is the world's smallest soft commodity market.
The future price of cocoa butter and cocoa powder is determined by multiplying the bean price by a ratio. The combined butter and powder ratio has tended to be around 3.5. If the combined ratio falls below 3.2 or so, production ceases to be economically viable and some factories cease extraction of butter and powder and trade exclusively in cocoa liquor.
Cocoa beans can be held in storage for several years in bags or in bulk, during which the ownership can change several times, as the cocoa is traded much the same as metal or other commodities, to gain profit for the owner.
In July 2010, British hedge fund Armajaro, headed by speculator Anthony Ward, purchased 241,000 tonnes of cocoa beans. The purchase was valued at £658 million and caused cocoa bean prices to rise to their highest level since 1977.
Read more about this topic: Cocoa Bean
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