Source: Zhitong Finance
The New York Cocoa Futures Market has recently experienced sharp fluctuations. The reason is that the price once broke through the $10,000 mark per ton, then investors closed their positions one after another, causing the market to fluctuate.
The New York Cocoa Futures Market has recently experienced sharp fluctuations. The reason is that the price once broke through the $10,000 mark per ton, then investors closed their positions one after another, causing the market to fluctuate. After hitting a record high of $10,080, this futures contract once plummeted by 3.7%, then recovered some of its decline.
Since this year, cocoa futures prices have more than doubled due to poor crops in major West African growing countries, leading to a shortage of global cocoa supply for the third year in a row. As of press time, New York's cocoa futures fell to $9,664 per tonne, while London's cocoa futures fell nearly 2%.
Notably, in the year ending March 21, investment management company Transtrand helped the company achieve a return of about 18% by increasing cocoa beans and shorting grains. The company also benefits from shorting bets on carbon emission permits, which are actively traded by companies and speculators that pay for the carbon dioxide they emit. Transtrand manages $5.4 billion in assets.
Meanwhile, another source familiar with the fund said that Aspect Capital, which is worth $8.6 billion, benefits from trends in cocoa, Chilean pesos, yen, the stock market, and European carbon emissions. For the year ending March 19, the fund had a return of 12%.
However, analysts at Hightower said in a report on Tuesday: “With three trading days and a holiday weekend left in the quarter, Coco fell victim to a wave of profit settlements later in the day.”
Additionally, according to analysts including Diana Gomes, this shortage will keep chocolate makers under pressure on costs and production volumes in the next quarter.
Among them, confectioners$Hershey (HSY.US)$The rating was downgraded to “neutral” by major banks on the grounds that the recent surge in cocoa prices did not appear to be a temporary factor caused by the natural environment.
Previously, Morgan Stanley also downgraded Hershey's stock rating from “holding and waiting” to “reducing holdings,” citing several risks that hindered Hershey's medium-term prospects, including “excessive” inflation in cocoa prices.