Rising cocoa prices on the world market

Cocoa prices rebounded strongly despite another set of data signalling a drop in demand for beans – this time from Asia, where the grind fell even further than in Europe and North America.

The Asian cocoa grind, at 144,738 tonnes, was 9.3% lower in the January-to-March quarter than a year before, data from the Cocoa Association of Asia showed.

That is bigger than the 5.8% drop for the quarter reported for North America, and the 1.6% decline for Europe.

It was also represented the weakest start to the year for cocoa grinding volumes since at last 2010. (MTI)