Posted on 07/17/2010 1:00:51 AM PDT by bruinbirdman
Even Willy Wonka might struggle to use this much chocolate. Yesterday, somebody bought 241,000 tonnes of cocoa beans.
The purchase was enough to move the entire global cocoa market, sending the price to the highest level since 1977, and triggering rumours and intrigue in the City.
It is unclear which person, or group of traders, was behind the deal, but it was the largest single cocoa trade for 14 years.
The cocoa beans, which are sitting in warehouses either in The Netherlands, Hamburg, or closer to home in London, Liverpool or Humberside is equivalent to the entire supply of the commodity in Europe, and would fill more than five Titanics. They are worth £658 million.
Analysts said it was very unlikely that a chocolate company, such as Nestle or Kraft, or even their suppliers, would buy such a huge order in one go and that is was probable that one or a number of speculators, possibly hedge funds, had attempted to corner the market. By doing this, they would have control of the entire supply in Europe, forcing the price yet higher.
Eugen Weinberg, an analyst with Commerzbank, said: For one buyer it would likely be a little bit too large. It would be a crazy number. That said, if youre cornering the market ...
If it looks like cornering, feels like cornering and the price difference between Europe and the US is so large, it probably is cornering.
There is some play taking place. No one really knows what is going on.
Cocoa prices, which had been on the rise this year, rose 0.7 per cent yesterday, to £2,732 per metric ton. By contrast, cocoa being traded on the US exchange fell.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Uh-oh. The terrorists have control of the entire strategic cocoa supply!
There's no chocolate manufacturer in the world that could or would do that, or it would have been done in the past. It's especially unusual in the depths of the biggest recession in 80 years.
Something else, something new, is afoot. I wonder if some drug maker has discovered proof of a really important new medication that is refined from cacao. Imagine if this is the secret ingredient for a silver bullet drug for cancer, AIDS, malaria, or hepatitis C? The profits from candy bars would be trifling by comparison.
Depends if you are a manufacturer or not. If you are a manufacturer, it becomes a necessity just to keep you in the business.
Wow, only took 4 posts until everyone’s favorite bogyeman was mentioned. So predictable.
1B? It's code for EIB. Rush Limbaugh bought it all.
It was a question not a joke. He did short silver and nearly crush Britain. He has heavily invested in Petrobras not long before 0bammy loaned them $2 billion dollars. He has also played similar games with currencies as well. If it’s predictable it’s because he is predictable. Like the carping of little minds on FR. lol
Ivory Coast Arrests 3 Journalists Over Cocoa Story
yitbos
Thank you. It seems reasonable to me.
Michelle Obama is behind this.
Can’t have us eating our favorite junk food.
Thanks for the ping. Someone’s going cuckoo for cocoa puffs.
Ivory Coast Arrests 3 Journalists Over Cocoa Story
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2554443/posts
I was ready to ping you myself, seeing if we could get some “prints.”
LOL
;)
or Quantum
Bosco!
Someone is trying to corner the women’s vote.
"To me, this makes no sense."
Only because your stomach is full and you are used to prosperity. Per cubic inch, chocolate is one of the most portable sources that can sustain you when nothing else is available. The person (if it is indeed a person) who bought this supply may be anticipating war and disruptions that we have not seen for almost a century.
This is quite reasonable. The beginning of the XIX century saw Napoleonic Wars and the beginning of the XX century saw WW I. We are ready for yet another major redefinition of the world. The suicidal tendencies of the West --- abandonment of the Judeo-Christian value system, embrace of socialism, defeatist immigration policies, etc. --- cannot end in any other way.
The buyer is likely to make a lot of money.
He can't cut them; he picks our cocoa beans with them.
. . .you gonna finish that Hershey bar?
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