New York cocoa futures gain

US cocoa futures settled higher on Tuesday, recouping on Monday's losses on fund buying uncontested by origin selling, traders said. "It was one or two funds who were keen to buy and there was an absence of any kind of hedging again," one trader said.
The New York Board of Trade benchmark July contract settled up 1.3 percent, or $25, at $1,881, in a trading band from $1,874 to $1,894. September futures finished up the same while the rest ranged from $23 to $29 higher. The July contract trading on the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic platform was up $28 at $1,884, at 12:58 pm, while the rest ranged from $27 to $29 higher.
Electronic trading ends at 3:15 pm "A lot of traders are really on the sidelines at these prices. It's the silly season, nervous period," one broker said. US cocoa futures rallied to a near-four-year high in mid-April on concerns about severely dry weather in the West African cocoa belt that were later calmed when the rains arrived, and neared the peak in late May.
This was followed by a mild slide before turning sideways. "It's a waiting game and at the moment I'd say it's gone from somewhat neutral to slightly in favour of the bulls again. The crop in Indonesia does look awful," the broker said. London cocoa futures also bounced higher, recouping most of the previous day's losses as industry buying on the lows encouraged light speculative interest, dealers said.
The Liffe September cocoa futures contract finished 13 pounds higher at 1,038 pounds, moving from 1,022 to 1,042. Meanwhile in the top producer, Ivory Coast's average farmgate cocoa prices rose well above a 400 CFA per kg guideline rate from May 28-June 3, Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC) data showed on Tuesday, as buyers upped their bids for tight supplies of beans.
In San Pedro in the south-west, the average price jumped 35 CFA per kg from last week to 510 CFA francs ($1.05) as buyers working for cocoa grinders paid some of the highest rates on offer in any region. NYBOT estimated open-outcry volume around noon at 2,352 lots, compared to the 4,369 contracts that traded in open-outcry on Monday, when 11,393 contracts traded on the ICE electronic platform.