US cocoa futures rose five percent on Thursday, with the front-month contract hitting a seven-week high on renewed fighting in the world's top cocoa grower Ivory Coast, traders said. Most-active December cocoa was up 5 percent at $1,534 a tonne on the New York Board of Trade, dealing from $1,520 to $1,538 which marked the highest since September 22. March gained 4.4 percent to $1,545.
A senior officer told Reuters in Ivory Coast that the army would crush the rebels in under a week, using armoured vehicles for a "terrestrial assault" following the aerial bombardment.
The fighting comes on top of a farmers' strike in the world's biggest cocoa producer that has put a halt to exports at the beginning of the 2004/05 season. The farmers are demanding higher guaranteed farmgate prices.
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