Cocoa Futures Tank -- July 19, 2020

Re-posting from July 1, 2020:

When there was a toilet paper shortage and a rumor there would be a beef / chicken shortage, I noted large bins of Hershey's chocolate syrup in our neighborhood store. I commented on that to my wife, but not sure if I posted it on the blog. I don't thing I did. The amount of Hershey's chocolate syrup was incredible, actually sitting on pallets inside the store. We thought it was due to Hershey's anticipating more stay-at-home sundaes. Well, now we know the rest of the story. Link here.

Cocao futures hit one-year low as pandemic wrecks global consumption.

Cocoa futures are a proxy of economic activity among consumers. Chocolate companies suffered steep declines in sales as lockdowns closed restaurants, resorts, movie theaters, concerts, and other forms of entertainment. Consumers across the world have been crushed by lockdowns, unlikely to spend money at 2019 levels. Days ago, we outlined similar bearish fundamentals playing out in coffee markets, sending spot prices to 15-year lows.

Update: from ZeroHedge, July 19, 2020: cocoa prices hit two-year low as chocolate consumption falters. Tyler says Americans are not in a celebratory mood. Not! This is all about restaurants being shut down. From the linked story:

Swiss chocolate maker Barry Callebaut reported last week a 14.3% decline in last quarter sales as volumes sold to retail clients were halved.

ICE Europe cocoa futures plunged into a bear market in early July with prices down 24% in 22 weeks. The plunge in prices started around the time the pandemic began (late January/early February).

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Erasing The Native American

Mutual of Omaha to retire its corporate logo. Link here. Native American headdress coming down faster than Confederate statues.