US open-outcry cocoa futures fell on Monday due to fundamental prospects, in a correction of Friday's 4-1/2 year high, traders said. "I think mainly, it was just overbought and there was no fresh news to sustain it," one trader said, pointing to strong main crops and good weather in the West African cocoa belt pushing prices down.
The New York Board of Trade benchmark September contract sunk $23 to settle at $2,100, trading from $2,090 to $2,118. Except for one, the rest ended down $19 to $24. The relative strength index on a nine-day basis is at 71.33, indicating an overbought market, the trader said.
The September contract trading on the IntercontinentalExchange NYBOT electronic platform was down $26 at $2,097, at 12:40 pm EDT (1640 GMT), moving in a band from $2,092 to $2,141. The rest ranged from $10 to $24 lower. Electronic trading ends at 3:15 pm.
In London, Life's September contract dropped 17 pounds to settle at 1,124 pounds, in a band from 1,120 pounds to 1,141 pounds. NYBOT estimated open-outcry volume around noon at 581 lots, compared to the 1,467 contracts that traded in open-outcry on Friday, when 8,784 contracts were traded on the ICE electronic platform.
In the world's top cocoa producer, cocoa arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast from October 1 to July 8 reached around 1,146,000 tonnes compared with 1,286,841 tonnes received in the same period a year, according to an estimate by exporters on Monday. Exporters estimated around 8,000 tonnes were received at the two ports in the period July 2-8, compared with 17,507 tonnes received in the same period one year ago.