Cocoa rises on speculation on rebuilding stocks by chocolate makers

LONDON: Cocoa rebounded to a two-year high in New York and London on speculation chocolate manufacturers need to buy beans to rebuild stockpiles.

Industry may have less than four months of beans on hand to meet demand, according to Eric Sivry, head of agricultural options brokerage at Marex Spectron Group in London. Gains may be limited if Ghana accelerates sales of next year's harvest. “A comfortable level of forward cover for the industry would be eight to nine months or more,” Sivry said by email on Tuesday. “Many believe that Ghana may soon jump in and offer a clip of new crop.”

Cocoa for March delivery climbed 0.7% to $2,800 a tonne on ICE Futures in New York after earlier on Tuesday gaining to $2,820, the highest for a most active contract since September 15, 2011. Ghana is the secondbiggest grower after Ivory Coast.

In London, cocoa jumped as much as 0.9% to 1,781 pounds ($2,868) a tonne, the highest since September 21, 2011. White, or refined, sugar rose 0.2% to $471 a tonne and raw sugar advanced 0.2% to 17.78 cents a pound. Robusta coffee fell 0.2% to $1,563 a tonne and Arabica coffee declined 0.7%.