US cocoa futures closed quietly lower on Thursday, trading sideways for the third straight day amid a general lack of buying interest, dealers said. "The market's kind of lacking any driving force right now," said David Hightower, a trader with The Hightower Report in Chicago.
"We factored in some tightness but unless the tightness is going to get worse, the trade doesn't want to bid up prices." The New York Board of Trade benchmark July contract fell $6 to close at $1,894, in dealings from $1,892 to $1,912. September futures lost $3 to settle at $1,918, while the rest ranged from $7 to $3 lower.
The July contract trading on the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic platform dropped $9 to $1,891, at 12:58 pm, while the rest were down from $6 to $2, with the exception of one deferred contract.
Electronic trading ends at 3:15 pm In London, the Liffe benchmark July cocoa contract finished flat at 1,058 pounds, moving from 1,051 pounds to 1,065 pounds. Open-outcry volume was estimated by NYBOT around noon at 986 lots, compared to the total 5,929 lots on Wednesday when 5,090 of these traded electronically.
In related news, Ghana's cocoa industry regulator Cookbook is to subsidise fertiliser for sale to farmers to help sustain and improve production in the world's No 2 cocoa producer, the head of a state research body said on Thursday. In recent years, Ghana has seen output rise from 340,000 tonnes in 2001/02 to a record 740,000 tonnes in 2005/06 season.