Cocoa arrivals from Brazil’s Bahia decline 0.9pct

Cocoa arrivals from Bahia, Brazil’s biggest growing region, dropped 0.9 per cent in the latest week, as farm-gate prices fell, analyst Thomas Hartmann said. Arrivals were 43,557 bags in the week ended August 29, according to an e-mailed report from the Salvador, Brazil-based analyst. That compares with the 43,938 bags Hartmann reported a week earlier. Total arrivals from Brazil declined to 68,773 bags, from 70,256 bags the previous week. A bag weighs 60 kilograms (132 pounds).

“A substantial increase is expected within the next weeks,” Hartmann said in the report dated Aug.ust 31, referring to the flow of cocoa from Bahia. “The climate is quite favorable for the development of cocoa,” with temperatures ranging between 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit) and 28 degrees Celsius, he said. Farm-gate prices dropped to 77 to 79.5 reais ($45.30) per arroba, from 80 to 82.50 reais the previous week, the report said. Cocoa for December delivery gained as much as 2.4 per cent to $2,779 a metric tonne in New York yesterday, before closing at $2,736. The most-active contract has lost 17 per cent this year.