**Cocoa Market Update – December 21, 2023**
On December 20, March ICE NY cocoa futures closed up $8 at $6,041 per metric ton, while March ICE London cocoa #7 fell $87 to $4,227 per metric ton. The New York market is expected to see up to $2 billion in buying due to the addition of cocoa futures to the Bloomberg Commodity Index starting in January. U.S. cocoa inventories dipped to a 9.5-month low of 1,626,861 bags but recovered slightly to 1,630,545 bags by December 21.
The Ivory Coast, the world’s largest cocoa producer, reported cocoa shipments of 970,945 metric tons for the marketing year from October 1 to December 21, a marginal decline of 0.1% compared to last year. Meanwhile, favorable weather has benefited cocoa production, with a recent cocoa pod count in West Africa 7% above the five-year average. The International Cocoa Organization revised its 2024/25 global cocoa surplus estimate to 49,000 metric tons, down from 142,000 metric tons.
