지난해 4분기 북미 코코아 그라인딩 물량은 116,080톤으로, 전년 동기 대비 1,508톤(1.28%)이 감소.
March New York cocoa was down $42 or 2.1 percent, at $1,942 a tonne by 1243 GMT, retreating further from a six-week high of $2,011 touched on Thursday.
March London cocoa also fell 20 pounds, or 1.4 percent, to 1,383 pounds a tonne.
North American cocoa grindings took a surprise fall in the fourth quarter of 2017 and slipped to a five-year low for the full year.
Although dealers said two fires at a Chicago factory may have been partly behind the decline, the data bucked market expectations for a rise of 1 to 3 percent.
Dealers said the decline, coupled with the market’s failure to hold above long-term moving averages a day earlier, had inspired speculative selling in thin volume.
Market participants are now awaiting fourth-quarter grind data from Asia, which were postponed from a scheduled Thursday release.
Strong processing in Malaysia, coupled with a rise in Indonesian cocoa product exports, has boosted expectations for a positive result, said Jonathan Parkman, head of agriculture at Marex Spectron. * “We would expect the Asian grind to be significantly positive against last year,” said Parkman.
Dealers said they see Asian processing up 5 to 10 percent.
