US cocoa futures eased with other soft commodities on Monday, settling 0.9 percent lower as traders continued to lock up profits made on the run to 28-year highs last week. "Fund activity overall has been pretty quiet today as the markets look to consolidate," said Boyd Cruel, softs analyst with Alaron Trading.
The key ICE May cocoa contract fell $24 to $2,738 per tonne, in a range of $2,739 to $2,664. ICE raw sugar and arabica coffee futures also continued to retreat on Monday from recently set multiyear highs. Traders said they were seeking a bottom in cocoa after the steep sell-off of last week, traders said.
The benchmark cocoa contract topped at $2,845 a tonne on Tuesday and Thursday last week, forming a technically intimidating double top at the highest price in 28 years on the continuation chart.
London may cocoa rose 3 pounds to 1,397 pounds per tonne on Monday. Exporters in top producer Ivory Coast estimated around 10,000 tonnes of beans were delivered to the West African State's two ports between March 3 and March 9, compared with 11,205 tonnes of beans arriving at Abidjan and San Pedro ports the previous week.