The aftermath of last week's heavy rains pose a grave threat against production in the globe's top grower of cocoa beans, Reuters reports.
Farmer of cocoa beans in the Ivory Coast said they are concerned about crops enduring higher amounts of disease and infestations of insects as well as beans running into trouble during the drying process, some farmers told the news source. Six showers dropped nearly four inches in the coastal region of Sassandra last week.
"We don't understand the climate here. It is raining like it is the main rainy season," Sassandra farmer Edmond Ezan told the news source. "Moisture could attract insects and there is the risk that some pods could turn black."
At 2 p.m. on Monday, cocoa futures gained 1.08 percent, a 0.27 cent lift to $2,516 per metric ton.
The industry also opened the cocoa harvest on October 3 following large-size reforms as traders closely view the industry.
Bloomberg reports money managers slashed bets on prices of the soft commodity gaining in value in London by more than 6 percent for the week-ended October 16, the derivatives unit of NYSE indicated.
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