What it is
The fermented and dried beans of the cacao tree, which grows only near the equator. Beans are ground into cocoa butter and cocoa powder, the raw materials of chocolate.
How it is usually quoted
US dollars per tonne in New York; pounds sterling per tonne in London.
This is the customary unit of the reference market. Other markets for the same commodity may use another unit or currency, and an exchange can change a contract’s terms: its own rulebook is the authority.
Where the reference contract trades
ICE (New York and London).
Named for orientation only. Naming an exchange or a market here does not mean that GIO4X gives access to it.
What commonly moves it
- Weather and tree disease in West Africa
- Grinding figures, the usual measure of demand
- The prices the governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana set for their farmers
- The age of the trees and how much is invested in replanting
These are the things people who follow this market usually watch. They explain how the market works; they do not say what the price will do next.
Where it comes from
Ivory Coast and Ghana grow most of the world’s cocoa. Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil follow.
The order of producers changes from year to year, so no quantities or shares are given here.
At GIO4X
Cocoa is not offered as a GIO4X instrument. This page is general education about a market that exists elsewhere, and nothing on it means that GIO4X quotes, trades or gives access to it.
The commodities GIO4X does list are Brent crude, gold, natural gas, palladium, platinum, silver and WTI crude.
Words worth knowing
A reference page. Educational information, not investment advice or a recommendation to trade. It gives no price and no forecast.