The Cocoa price continued its rally from last year in the first weeks of 2024. Economists at Commerzbank expect Cocoa prices in New York to approach all-time high of $5,379.
Cocoa market likely to face a supply deficit in the current 2023/24 crop year
There are currently concerns that dry weather fanned by Harmattan winds could affect the mid-crop harvest in West Africa, which begins in April. The Cocoa harvest is already lagging well behind the previous year’s level. According to estimates by exporters, arrivals in the ports of the Ivory Coast, by far the largest cocoa-producing country, were 35% lower in the period from the start of the harvest year in October to the end of January than in the same period last year. This means that the Cocoa market is also likely to face a supply deficit in the current 2023/24 crop year, the third in a row.
It seems only a matter of time before the Cocoa price in New York approaches the all-time high of $5,379 per ton set in 1977.