Cocoa futures climbed on Monday on investor buying after last week's steep sell-off as traders mulled whether the virtual civil war in top cocoa grower Ivory Coast would be resolved, analysts said. The softs complex continued to monitor the outbreak of fighting in Libya and the disaster in Japan.
Cocoa futures retained their firm tone because incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara have been locked in a violent power struggle for control of a country that produces 40 percent of the world's cocoa beans. Cocoa exports have dried up as a result.
New York's May cocoa contract ended up $62 at $3,189 per tonne. On Friday, the contract slid $155, or 4.7 percent, to close at $3,127 per tonne. Volume in New York's cocoa futures stood at 15,800 lots, some 6 percent below the 39-day norm, Thomson Reuters preliminary data showed.
Trade sources said a leading trade house was believed to be the major holder of exchange stocks while supplies from origin were proving hard to obtain. New York's May arabica coffee contract rose 0.80 cent to close at $2.77 a lb. New York's May raw sugar contract on ICE Futures US shed 0.23 cent to close at 27.48 cents per lb.
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