Cocoa Falls on Robust Supplies

Cocoa futures fell sharply Thursday as the International Cocoa Organization released figures showing robust supplies.

Cocoa for March delivery lost 2.7% to end at $2,049 a ton on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange.

"There is still plenty of cocoa around and with the positive weather the number could be increased with the next report," said Michael Kerensky, a trader at R.J. O'Brien & Associates.

The ICCO said Thursday that world production of cocoa for the 2016-17 season was up 18.5% year-on-year at 4.733 million tons. The firm also increased its figures for world cocoa demand over its last quarterly projection to 4.351 million tons versus 4.282 million tons last quarter, pushing end-of-season stocks to 1.760 million tons, a 23.5% year-on-year increase.

Mr. Kerensky said since cocoa hit a low of $1,851 a ton in August most funds have been betting on higher prices. But that run ended Nov. 10 when cocoa rose to $2,226 a ton and charts have trended lower.

In other markets, arabica coffee for March fell 2.8% to end at $1.285 a pound, selling off after six straight sessions of gains failed to push the contract out of the range it has held for two months. Raw sugar for March rose 0.1% to 15.08 cents a pound, frozen concentrated orange juice for January lost 2.1% to end at $1.601 a pound and March cotton fell 0.8% to close at 72.81 cents a pound.

Write to Julie Wernau at julie.wernau@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 30, 2017 18:41 ET (23:41 GMT)