CSCE cocoa mostly firmer

CSCE cocoa futures settled modestly higher with the exception of July cocoa as funds continued to roll out of front-month July into back months as first notice for July cocoa approaches, floor sources said.
"The July/September spread was the main feature down here today. Probably about 2,000 July/September lots traded today," said one trader.
The July/September switch widened to settle at an $14 discount from a $11 discount on Friday.
Benchmark July settled off $1 at $1,333 a tonne after trading $1,318 to $1,342. September closed $2 firmer at $1,347 after moving from $1,331 to $1,354 and the rest rose $3 to $7.
First notice day for July cocoa is June 17.
"Interestingly, on the charts it has a lower high and a lower low, so the market looks to be eroding," said one technician. Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the French embassy in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan on Monday, which lies in the government-controlled south.
They were seen burning tires in protest of France's failure to disarm rebel forces. Ivory Coast's civil war, which erupted out of a failed coup in September 2002, was officially declared over last year, but the West African country remains split in two, with French soldiers policing a buffer zone running across the country.
Meanwhile, cocoa bean exports from Ivory Coast's south-western port of San Pedro almost tripled to some 27,118 tonnes May from 10,526 tonnes in the same month last year, port data showed on Monday.
One shipper in San Pedro said exporters were now shipping their beans after storing them in the expectation that prices would rise in international markets.
"Production has been inching up, and consumption has been rising also, but not at the rate of production. There is an imbalance there and it's beginning to show in market prices," said one analyst.
Final estimated cocoa futures volume amounted to 12,386 lots, down from Friday's count of 17,645 contracts. Open interest gained 1,733 lots to 103,902 lots as of June 4.
Support in July cocoa was pegged at $1,300 and then at $1,290 with resistance at $1,500 a tonne.