March ICE NY cocoa (CCH25) Thursday closed up +474 (+4.53%), and March ICE London cocoa #7 (CAH25) closed up +289 (+3.39%).
Cocoa prices rallied sharply Thursday as chocolate maker Hershey Co. is seeking CFTC approval to buy a large amount of cocoa through the ICE Futures Exchange due to tight global supplies. Bloomberg reported late Wednesday that Hershey wants to take a position allowing it to purchase more than 90,000 MT of cocoa on ICE Futures US. The purchase size is more than nine times what the exchange currently allows. The amount also exceeds a federal position limit of 4,900 contracts, or 49,000 MT, set by the CFTC. Global cocoa shortages are so large that it's now much cheaper to take delivery of supplies through the New York exchange than buying in the physical market.
