(New throughout, adds comments from brokers, market estimates) By Marcelo Teixeira NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) – Cocoa processing in North America rose unexpectedly in the third quarter of 2025 to 112,784 metric tons, up 3.22% from the same period a year earlier, according to data from the National Confectioners Association released on Thursday. Market estimates for the region's cocoa grinding were indicating a fall of between 5% to 8% in the quarter. "That is a shocker," said a U.S.-based broker after the data was published. Cocoa grind data is a key demand indicator for the market of the chocolate-making commodity. The market was expecting more negative data for the quarter as high prices have hit global demand for cocoa and chocolate. Earlier on Thursday, grinding data for Europe showed a decline of 4.8% in cocoa processing for the third quarter, which was smaller-than-expected. NCA said 16 plants in the U.S., Mexico and Canada reported data on cocoa processing for the third quarter report, two more than a year ago, partly explaining the unexpected increase. Brokers now see potential for a price jump on cocoa futures in the ICE exchange in the coming sessions. "I am looking for a corrective bounce. Maybe New York cocoa will trade towards $6,700 (per ton) or so and then the down trend will resume," said a second broker, who works for an investment bank. New York cocoa closed at $5,991 per ton on Thursday. "The specs may have sold as much as 10,000 lots in long liquidation and short selling (recently)," said a third broker, adding that without CFTC data due to the government shutdown it has become hard to gauge funds' positioning in futures. "A short covering rally could be inevitable and hard to cover," he added. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira; Editing by Chris Reese and David Gregorio)
(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
