why cocoa

I am a generalist and so this is a generalists view on cocoa.

Demand is ramping up from China/Asia (the Chinese are getting fatter and developing a taste for Chocolate, interesting this is not so much the case in Japan)and the Cacao tree use to take about 6 years before it bore product. This had been shortened to a few years. ie Supply cannot be ramped up over a year or two. nb However, grindings are down in the usa

The market for cocoa is made up of tens of thousands of often dirt poor farmers and a few big buyers. This leads to big swings and the short term trader is often cut hard. The long term player can often sit tight.

The cocoa market is largely overlooked, it has none of the sexier overtones of the other commodities. ie traders are not all over this one - yet.

The quality of the beans coming out of the Ivory Coast is suspect.

It is trending upwards.

If the big players start competing with each other then the market will be interesting.

Max

dyor