As I understand it, the article refers to producers SELLING, not SELLING SHORT. They are selling the beans they already have or will soon have. The problem for them is the timing, because they are not allowed to deliver the physical product until the settlement date... meanwhile, they still need to meet margin requirements... Producers selling on the spot, no problem. The farmers themselves are never either long nor short, they probably don't even know WTF a futures contract is (in fact, I saw a documentary where most had never tasted chocolate).
(Semafor) Colombia pushes cacao over coca Colombia’s government launched a campaign to help coca growers transition to cultivating cacao, as the price of the bean soared to historic highs. Demand for cacao — the source ingredient for chocolate — has jumped as climate change and El Niño, a warm-weather pattern, have disrupted output in West Africa, which typically accounts for 80% of global production. The shortfall has pushed prices to 150% above last year’s levels. Meanwhile a global cocaine glut has sent coca prices crashing. Besides driving economic growth, Colombian producers’ shift to growing cacao could ease violence across South America: A rise in coca production is largely responsible for having turned once-peaceful Ecuador and Perú into some of the most violent countries in the world.
https://www.barchart.com/story/news...urge-as-global-cocoa-demand-remaina-resilient "Bloomberg reported last Thursday that the Ghana Cocoa Board is negotiating with major cocoa traders to postpone the delivery of at least 150,000 MT to 250,000 MT of cocoa until next season due to a lack of beans."
Just a reflexion. The market seems to be pushing up again because of the resilience of grindings, but I am not sure the beans in question have been bought after february. If those are stocks from last year or whatever, of course they will grind them now. And the retail prices of chocolate aren't translating the price hikes at all, even if easter chocolates seemed expensive.
Actually, my comment was stupid. If some big chocolate makers have some stocks right now, they should sell it, not grind it when the added value of chocolate is relatively low.
4/23/24 World's chocolate supply threatened by devastating virus Cacao swollen shoot virus disease leads to death of 50% of some harvests https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/04/240423155910.htm Weekly
Yeah, I kinda found about that the hard way. Shorting here, shorting there, shorting everywhere. I swear I'm never eating another chocolate, ever! Oh gawd, won't you save this lost soul???