New York cocoa lower, maintains small range

NYBOT cocoa futures ended with modest losses on Thursday, with speculators selling the top and processors buying the bottom, but at either end the amounts traded were small, traders said.
"Cocoa was Very light today. It was pretty much in the same range as yesterday, with light speculative selling and a small amount of processor buying at today's lows. Mostly just spec liquidation and lack of bullish news in the market," said Jim Corridor, president of Liberty Trading Group.
Most-active September cocoa ended $9 lower at $1,337 a tonne after trading from $1,335 to $1,350 a tonne. July closed down $10 at $1,329 and the rest finished $4 to $8 lower. Trading volume increased on Thursday to a final estimated tally of 4,238 lots, up from Wednesdays 3,479 contracts.
"Theres just a lack of fresh fundamental news. The supply and production figures out of West Africa look very healthy and processors are only buying on their terms, when the market goes down, and that's causing a small range for the market," Corridor said.
He added that processors were operating in a "hand-to-mouth" mode, hanging onto the supplies they have and coming to the market only when they need more.
"Its a bearish set-up right now, and without any new fundamental factors to entice them into changing their buying patterns, were looking at the same thing for a while to come. Fundamentals are soft, production is strong and demand right now is hand-to-mouth," he said.
On Thursday, cocoa beans declared for export by shippers beginning at the start of the 2003/04 (October-September) season at Ivory Coasts main port of Abidjan reached 717,645 tonnes by May 31, compared with 717,154 tonnes exported during the same period last year.Some traders said they thought cocoa would be trading lower, if not for continued uncertainty in Ivory Coast, the worlds top cocoa producer, where rebel fighting has been an ongoing feature that threatens crop production.
On Wednesday, the United Nations urged Ivory Coasts stalled power-sharing government to get back to work as diplomats said the world body may threaten sanctions to drive home its message.
Technicians said they saw support in September cocoa at $1,320 and $1,315 and then the contract low of $1,308, with initial resistance at the June 8 peak of $1,400. Cocoa calls climbed to 1,491 and puts rose to 872 on Thursday. On Wednesdays open interest in cocoa rose by 389 lots to 96,519 lots.