US open-outcry cocoa futures closed firm on Thursday, continuing to recover from steep losses in the week and on mild support from concern about the upcoming main crop, traders said. "You got a little bit of spec buying, trade buying on the bottom," one trader said.
The New York Board of Trade benchmark September contract rose $12 to settle at $2,077, trading in a range from $2,052 to $2,080. The rest settled $12 to $17 higher. The week, the key September contract fell on long liquidation to close down nearly 4 percent, falling sharply from a recent near-4-1/2-year peak.
The September contract trading on the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic platform was $10 higher at $2,075, at 1:07 pm EDT (1707 GMT), moving from $2,048 to $2,079.
One contracts aside, the rest ranged from $9 to $11 higher. Electronic trading ends at 3:15 pm Overseas, Life's September contract rose a modest $5 to finish at 1,107 pounds, in narrow dealings from 1,093 pounds to 1,109 pounds.
A drought in parts of the West African cocoa belt earlier this year negatively impacted some production for the current mid-crop. The rains that followed have brought the threat of black pod disease, already reported in Nigeria.
In the No 4 producer, cocoa arrivals in the port city of Lagos, Nigeria's main export route, fell 39 percent to 5,500 tonnes in June compared with the same month last year, an average of estimates by traders showed on Thursday.
In the world's biggest grower, a 72-hour strike by customs officers halted cocoa exports from Ivory Coast's ports on Thursday, but union members said services would resume on Friday.
The stoppage over wages and working conditions came at a traditionally slow period for cocoa shipments from the world's biggest exporter, as the small April-September mid-crop trickles in. The strike did not appear to provide market support, however, due to the expectation that it will be short lived, traders said.
NYBOT estimated open-outcry volume around noon at 1,103 lots, compared to the 1,971 contracts that traded in open-outcry on Wednesday, when 7,208 contracts were traded on the ICE electronic platform.
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