New York cocoa down 2.8 percent

Benchmark cocoa futures in New York closed down 2.8 percent on Thursday on a volley of speculative selling after a similar drop in London prices. Cocoa for March delivery on the New York Board of Trade finished $43 lower at $1,490 a tonne, breaking the $1,500 psychological support level.
It bottomed at $1,485 which marked the lowest level in two weeks. Volume was estimated at 12,914 lots, up from Wednesday's official tally of 7,344 contracts.
"I guess it had a lot to do with what happened in London," said a soft analyst at a New York brokerage said. "But we think the market was also depressed by the improving weather in West Africa which is allowing a smooth transit for cocoa beans again. That's kind of bearish for prices," the analyst added. Bean arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast the world's largest cocoa producer stood at only around 157,000 tonnes from October 1 to November 12, against the 257,585 tonnes delivered in the same period of last year, exporters estimated on Wednesday.
But bean movements were picking up after a slow start, traders said. A market technician in New York said he expected March cocoa to rebound above $1,500 soon. "It may have been overdone today," he said, referring to the selling. "I think a safe bet for the market's range would be $1,500 to $1,530 in the near-term."
In London, cocoa futures closed down almost 3 percent amid a late burst of selling by investment funds after a session spent in a narrow band. London's benchmark December cocoa finished 2.96 percent lower at 820 pounds per tonne after hitting a session low of 817 pounds in a volume of 6,036 lots.
March closed down 2.8 percent at 842 pounds on volume of 4,727 lots. Further on the production end, Ivory Coast was reportedly building upcountry sales warehouses to raise farmers' incomes a move that a trader said could revolutionise the business and push private merchants to the wall. Heavy rains in Cameroon's main cocoa-growing regions have also let up in the past fortnight, allowing farmers to dry beans better, although damaged roads continued to hamper trade, producers said.