Cocoa prices have doubled to historic levels in the space of a year. Hedge funds are determined to take advantage of this

Hedge funds are not behind the rise in prices, but their positions are exacerbating volatility in an already fragile sector. Hedge funds are determined to take advantage of the surge in cocoa prices, to the point where they have never speculated so much on “brown gold”. The market is heading for a third year in a row of deficit. Ivorian production is expected to increase from 2.18 million tons to 1.75 million tons. In Ghana, the harvest is expected to be 25% lower than the previous season. In total, these losses represent 11% of global cocoa demand.

Les données de la Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the American commodity futures regulator, mention that they have accumulated over $8.7 billion in positions on the London and New York futures markets.