LONDON COCOA HOLDS LITTLE CHANGED AT MIDMORNING
Cocoa futures were about unchanged from
last night by midmorning with near July trading at 1,319 stg
from 1,318 asked and a 1,324/1,318 high-low.
    Sterling's strength together with continued availability of
West African new crop physical offerings more than outweighed
any bullish impact from last night's higher New York market.
    Dealers said the market had been forecast to open as much
as 10 stg up, basis New York's close.
    The Ivory Coast was believed offering new crop around 1,325
French francs per 100 kilos cif while Ghana was there at around
1,460 stg a tonne cif for Dec/Feb-Jan/Mar, they said.
    Apart from the prospect of ICCO buffer stock buying in the
near future, the only other bullish feature is the lower trade
forecast for Bahia's temporao crop which was recently reduced
to 1.5/2.0 mln bags from 2.0/2.5 previously and compared with
initial expectations of up to three mln bags.
    Dealers said trade ideas are now pointing to the lower end
of the new forecast range although in terms of world production
this may well be evened out by a better than expected Ivory
Coast mid-crop.
    Terminal volume after 75 minutes was 248 lots including 76
lots crossed.
 REUTER
