10:54 a.m. Mar 15, 1999 Eastern
In 1997/98 the cocoa crop totalled some 360,000 tonnes.
The International Cocoa Organisation (ICCO) forecast in latest sector report that the 1997/98 crop would come in at around 409,000 tonnes.
It expected production to total 370,000 tonnes for the 1998/99 season, citing dry conditions during the 1998/99 season for the expected fall in the crop.
Newman said that fund activity was making hard to predict where prices would head in the near to medium-term. May LIFFE cocoa was hovering around 5-1/2 year lows of 839 stg per tonne, versus Friday’s close of 841.
