Cocoa prices revive despite fall in European grind

Under-pressure cocoa prices staged some recovery after industry data showed European consumption of the bean declining sharply, but less drastically than some investors had feared.

European cocoa processors ground 316,676 tonnes of the bean in the July-to-September period, a 16.2% slide year on year, and the lowest figure for the quarter since 2005 the European Cocoa Association said.

However, the decline was at the lower end of the range of 15-20% that analysts were expecting, and reflected a sharp improvement on the 292,551 tonnes ground in the April-to June quarter, representing the biggest decline on records going back 12 years.

“You can’t call the data promising but it was at least not as dismal as some had prepared for,” a London trader told Agrimoney.com.

“People have got used to setbacks on the demand front.”

http://www.agrimoney.com/news/cocoa-prices-revive-despite-fall-in-european-grind–5105.html