US cocoa futures finished sharply higher on Tuesday for the second session in a row, with speculative buying lifting prices as a strike began in top cocoa grower Ivory Coast, dealers said. "There's more strength as the strike in the Ivory Coast is pushing prices higher here," one trader said.
Staff at Ivory Coast's Coffee and Cocoa Bourse (BCC), which controls exports of cocoa, went on strike on Tuesday and planned to continue on Wednesday, halting registration of new shipments. Employees and agents of the BCC and affiliated industry bodies also on strike register and check deliveries of cocoa to ports and exports.
Any stoppage by them could cause chaos for those trying to ship beans, especially if it is prolonged. "There was some fund buying on the opening and since then we've been shopping around, very quietly," another trader said.
In the pit, ICE March cocoa futures jumped $37, or 1.82 percent, to end at $2,067 per tonne, close to the session high of $2,068, its loftiest position since July 26.
A technical gap was left between $2,034 and $2,050. The rest finished up $37 to $59. On the screen, the March contract rose $33 to $2,063, at 12:22 pm EST (1722 GMT), trading between $2,026 and $2,069. The rest were $34 to $47 stronger. Meanwhile, farm gate prices for cocoa in Ivory Coast's main growing regions were mixed from November 26 to December 2, data from the Coffee and Cocoa Bourse showed on Tuesday, and some buyers were reluctant to sell at going rates.
London's Liffe March contract shot up 20 pounds to settle at 1,017 pounds per tonne, ranging from 999 pounds to 1,020 pounds. ICE estimated around noon that 314 contracts had traded in the pit, compared to 2,252 lots that traded on the floor on Monday when 16,539 contracts traded on the screen.