Speculators cut bullish cocoa positions for 3rd week
Category: Cocoa
(AgWeek) – Speculators reduced their net long positions in cocoa contracts on ICE Futures U.S. for the third straight week, in the shortened holiday week ended Dec. 29, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Monday.
The noncommercial dealers also reduced their bullish positions in raw sugar and cotton futures and options, and trimmed their bearish hold on arabica coffee, the data showed.
They cut their net long position in cocoa by 2,748 contracts, to 49,166, as futures prices fell to an eight-week low as an increasingly weak chart spurred technical selling.
Speculators cut their net long positions in raw sugar futures and options by 9,349 lots to 153,300, still within sight of the mid-December record high of 167,833 lots. The reduction came as prices reacted to chart-based and broad-based commodity weakness, though they remained within a recent range.
They cut their net long positions in cotton for the second straight week, this time by a slight 1,080 contracts to 48,414.
In arabica coffee futures and options, the only soft commodity in which speculators are maintaining a bearish stance, they trimmed their net short positions by just 988 lots to 20,556.
The data was delayed due to the New Year holiday on Friday.
