ICE US cocoa. The contract it trades on, who produces it, the figures its price is set against, how to get exposure, and how far its price fell from its highs in five years.
Verified figures, not advice. Contract terms, production, stocks and fund costs come from the exchange, government agencies and fund issuers named beside each figure, read on 14 Oct 2026. A figure we could not verify is shown as "not verified"; a figure we worked out ourselves is marked "computed". We do not say where a price is going or whether to buy. Commodity funds and futures can lose more than you expect. Found a mistake? Tell us and we correct it.
TermValue
Smallest price move
$1.00 per metric ton = $10.00 per contract (quoted in US dollars per metric ton)
Delivery months
March, May, July, September, December
Benchmark grade
Exchange-grade cocoa beans from multiple origins in three groups: Group A (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo) +$160/t premium; Group B (e.g. Ecuador Arriba, Cameroon, Colombia) +$80/t; Group C (e.g. Bolivia, Haiti, Indonesia-Sulawesi, Malaysia) at par
Source: ice.com. Read on 2026-10-14.
ProducerShare of world outputYear or season
Cote d'Ivoire
38.3%
2023/24 (ICCO: 1,674 of 4,368 thousand tonnes; share calculated)
Ghana
10.3%
2023/24 (ICCO: 449 of 4,368 thousand tonnes; share calculated)
Ecuador
9.6%
2023/24 (ICCO: 419 of 4,368 thousand tonnes; share calculated)
Price alone does not say whether a commodity is dear or cheap. Stocks, balances and costs show how tight or loose the market is. We list them as published, with the date.
What it measuresFigureAs ofSource
World stocks-to-grindings ratio (2024/25 estimate)
28.2 percent (end-season stocks 1.309m tonnes)
ICCO August 2026 Quarterly Bulletin of Cocoa Statistics (2024/25 estimate; 2025/26 data temporarily withheld by ICCO)
World surplus (2024/25 estimate)
+37,000 (production 4.733m t vs grindings 4.649m t) tonnes
ICCO August 2026 bulletin
From Oct 2021 to Sep 2026 the front-month futures price of Cocoa changed by +111.0%. The path matters as much as that end result: the deepest fall below a previous high was -76.0%, from Dec 2024 to Feb 2026 (14 months).
It has not climbed back to that earlier high.
At the end of Sep 2026 it was 54.0% below its highest month-end (Dec 2024).
Time spent more than 20% below its high: 22 of 60 months.
Among the 14 commodities with a chart here, the median deepest fall was -49.0%. Cocoa ranks 2 of 14 from deepest, so its fall was deeper than the median.
A second, independent series (IMF cocoa price, monthly average to Jul 2026 (via FRED); monthly average, to Jul 2026) gives a deepest fall of -69.7%, a gap of 1.7 points from ours, with the low point 0 months apart. We take the two as agreeing.
How we made this: month-end settlement prices of the front-month futures contract from Yahoo Finance, read on 14 October 2026, checked against a second source as described above. A front-month series jumps when the contract changes, so it is not the return of any fund. The figures and the chart are our own calculation; we do not republish the raw prices.
Futures roll. Futures-based funds must keep selling expiring contracts and buying later ones; when later contracts cost more (contango) each roll can erode the fund's return even if the spot price is flat, and in backwardation rolling can add to it (paraphrased from a sugar fund prospectus; same mechanism applies to every futures-based product). (teucrium.com)
Supply is concentrated in West Africa (Cote d'Ivoire alone is over a third of output on ICCO data) and cocoa has shown extreme price swings, so futures-linked products can move far more than most investors expect.
A price move says what buyers paid, not what the commodity is worth. For what we mean by value, see What is value?
Questions people ask
What moves the price of Cocoa?
Weather in West Africa: ICCO flags growing concern about an anticipated El Nino later in 2026 and its possible effect on prices; the September 2025 ICCO report credited favourable Q3 2025 rainfall for improved prospects.
How can I get exposure to Cocoa?
Through futures on ICE Futures U.S., or through funds and exchange-traded products. Step 6 lists the ones we verified, with structure and cost. Funds that hold futures can differ from the spot price.
Why can a fund differ from the price I see?
A fund that holds futures must sell contracts about to expire and buy later ones. When the later ones cost more (contango) each roll can cost money; when they cost less it can add. So its return is not the spot price.