US cocoa futures settled lower on speculative selling after hitting a 3-1/2-month low on a second-month basis, traders said. "Just a little follow-through spec selling," one trader said. "A continued liquidation of the longs."
The New York Board of Trade's benchmark December dropped 1.12 percent, or $20, to $1,759 per tonne. It traded in a band of $1,791 to $1,757, a low to May 1. Spot-month September closed $2 lower at $1,773. The December contract trading on the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic platform was down $24 at $1,755 at 12:39 pm EDT (1639 GMT).
Apart from one, the rest ranged from $9 to $24 lower. In London, the Liffe December contract fell $15 to settle at 938 pounds, with trades ranging from 936 pounds to 963 pounds. Patchy rain fell in Ivory Coast's main cocoa zones in the last week, interspersed by long sunny spells, farmers said on Monday.
The weather in the world's top cocoa producer provided good growing conditions for the October-March main crop. Farmers and buyers are preparing for an abundant main crop this season after months of regular rainfall enabled trees to produce pods in large quantities in contrast with the current mid crop which had been hit by drought-like conditions.
Meanwhile, cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast reached around 1,174,800 tonnes between October 1, 2006 and August 19, 2007, exporters estimated on Monday, compared with 1,323,094 tonnes received in the same period last year. On the weather front, scattered showers and thundershowers will continue throughout the week in the West African cocoa-producing region, DTN Meteorlogix said.
On Thursday may see some dry conditions before more showers on Friday. The exchange estimated open-outcry volume around noon at 451 lots, compared to 2,184 lots that traded in the pit on Friday, when 17,214 contracts traded on the electronic platform.
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