Cocoa futures and the world price

The world cocoa price is not found; it is made, on two exchange contracts that say exactly what cocoa counts, from where, in what condition and delivered to which ports. Here are their terms, read in the exchange's own documents.

Two contractsExchange documentsNot trading advice

Before reading on

A futures price is the price of standard cocoa in a warehouse in Europe or the eastern United States at a future date. It is not what a farmer is paid, and it is not the price of fine-flavour cocoa.
Contract terms are changed by circular. These were read on 9 October 2026; check the exchange before relying on any of them.
Nothing here is advice about trading or hedging.

London and New York, side by side

The London and New York cocoa futures contracts compared, term by term
Term	London	New York
Exchange	ICE Futures Europe	ICE Futures U.S.
Contract size	Ten tonnes	10 metric tons
Quoted in	Pounds sterling per tonne	US dollars per metric ton
Delivery months	March, May, July, September, December	March, May, July, September, December
Settlement	Physical delivery, bagged or in bulk	Physical delivery
Delivered at	Nominated warehouses in or near Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bremen, Hamburg, Liverpool, London, Rotterdam	Licensed warehouses in the port districts of New York, the Delaware River, Hampton Roads, Albany, Baltimore
Origins and their terms	Two groups: all African origins without discount; all others at a discount of 50 pounds a tonne	Three groups: A at a premium of 160 dollars a ton, B at 80 dollars, C at par
Bean size limit	No more than 120 beans per 100 g; 100 is standard	No more than 1,400 beans per kilogram; standard 1,000, 1,100 or 1,200 by group
Other quality bars	No more than 20% slaty or 15% defective beans by count	Smoky or hammy cocoa is not deliverable

Sources for every cell are cited in the sections below. A London tonne and a New York metric ton are the same quantity; the documents use different words.

What “the cocoa price” is

There is no single market price for cocoa. The figure usually quoted, the International Cocoa Organization's daily price, is an average of the nearest three active futures months on the London and New York contracts at the London close, with London converted to dollars at the six-month forward exchange rate. (source 1)
Each exchange calls its own contract the benchmark: London “the global benchmark for the pricing of physical cocoa”, New York “the world benchmark for the global cocoa market”. (source 2; source 3)
Both are contracts for ten tonnes of beans with the same five delivery months, one priced in pounds and the other in dollars. The gap between them is therefore partly an exchange rate. (source 2; source 3)

Not shown: What a farmer, an exporter or a chocolate maker pays or receives. A futures price is a price for standard cocoa in a warehouse in Europe or America at a future date.

Not shown: The price of fine-flavour cocoa, which is sold by private contract and has no exchange price.

What cocoa has to be to count

A futures contract is a promise to deliver cocoa meeting a written description. The description is the standard everything else is priced against.

London limits size and soundness by count: no more than 120 beans per 100 g, no more than 20% slaty beans and no more than 15% defective. Cocoa better than the standard on bean count or defects earns a premium, and worse a discount. (source 4)
New York grades for growth, description, condition, count, waste and grade. Cocoa that is smoky or hammy cannot be delivered at all, and nor can cocoa above 1,400 beans per kilogram. (source 5)
Slaty beans are unfermented ones. So the exchange standard rewards fermentation and bean size, and nothing in it tests flavour. (source 4)
Since April 2024 the London rules also require the seller to warrant that the cocoa is deforestation-free in the European regulation's sense, with exceptions for stock shipped earlier. (source 4)

Not shown: Flavour. Neither contract tests it.

Not shown: The size of each premium and discount in London, which is in an allowance table that was not read.

How the contracts rank origins

The two exchanges price origin differently, and neither ranking is a judgement of quality in the chocolate maker's sense.

London has two groups. All African origins are deliverable without discount; cocoa from anywhere else is discounted by 50 pounds a tonne. (source 2)
New York has three. Group A, at a premium of 160 dollars a ton, is Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. (source 3)
Group B, at 80 dollars, is a long list that includes Arriba from Ecuador, Cameroon, Colombia, New Guinea and Venezuela. Group C, at par, is Bolivia, Haiti, Sulawesi, Malaysia and anything not named. (source 3)
So on both exchanges West African cocoa is the reference and the best paid. Origins prized by craft makers, Venezuela and Ecuador's Arriba among them, sit a group lower in New York and at a discount in London. (source 3; source 2)

Not shown: Why the groups are as they are. The documents state them and do not explain them.

Not shown: That a premium for an origin on the exchange reaches growers there.

Where it is delivered, and how it is kept

London cocoa is delivered in nominated warehouses in or near seven ports of north-west Europe, and New York cocoa in licensed warehouses in five port districts of the eastern United States. (source 2; source 3)
London allows delivery in bulk as well as in bags: units of ten or 100 tonnes bagged, or 1,000 tonnes loose. (source 2)
Stored cocoa is treated for insects as a matter of routine: the London rules provide for a monthly charge for fumigating and fogging cocoa in store. (source 4)

Not shown: How much cocoa is in exchange warehouses at any time. The exchange publishes stock reports; none was read for this page.

Not shown: What fumigant is used, or how often.

The physical trade behind the futures

Most cocoa never goes near an exchange warehouse. It is bought and sold under private contracts priced by reference to the futures. The contract rules themselves are the trade associations' own documents and were not read; what follows is the cocoa and chocolate industry's published account of them.

Two associations' contracts carry most of the world's cocoa: the Federation of Cocoa Commerce in London and the Cocoa Merchants' Association of America, whose standards have historically differed slightly. (source 6; source 7)
Futures and physical contracts do different jobs. The industry's guide says a chocolate manufacturer is unlikely to buy its beans through the futures market, which exists so that those with physical commitments can hedge them. (source 8)
A contract grade is not a verdict on whether cocoa is good for chocolate. It sets the level of defect at which the buyer becomes entitled to an allowance, a reduction in price, decided by arbitration if the parties disagree. (source 6)
The Federation's contracts recognise two grades. Good fermented allows up to 5% slaty beans and 5% defective; fair fermented allows 10% of each. (source 6)
Size is contractual too. At 100 beans or fewer per 100 g there is no claim; smaller beans may bring an allowance, and beyond 120 the parcel may have to be replaced. (source 6)
The American contract instead refers to the food regulator's standard: no more than 4% mouldy beans, 4% infested or damaged, and 6% of the two together. (source 6)
How a futures price becomes the price of a particular lot (the differential for origin and quality, and the margin for turning beans into butter and powder): no primary source was read. Forward selling by the producing countries' boards is covered in the record on the price cycle.

Not shown: The contract rules themselves: weights, shipment and delivery terms, sampling, default and arbitration procedure. They are the associations' documents, could not be opened, and are not reproduced or paraphrased here.

Not shown: The size of any allowance, which the rules and arbitrators decide.

Not shown: Anything about how to trade or hedge.

Sources

Studies are cited by author and year and summarised, with their limits, on the research pages. The official documents are listed here. Each was downloaded and read, and the passage relied on was checked to be in it.

International Cocoa Organization. Statistics: Cocoa Daily Prices. www.icco.org/statistics/
Official statistics · International
ICE Futures Europe. London Cocoa Futures: Contract Specifications (2026-10-09). www.ice.com/products/37089076/London-Cocoa-Futures
The exchange's own contract terms · United Kingdom
ICE Futures U.S.. Cocoa Futures: Contract Specifications (2026-10-09). www.ice.com/products/7/Cocoa-Futures
The exchange's own contract terms · United States
ICE Futures Europe. Contract Rules: ICE Futures London Cocoa Futures Contract (Section EEEE), as attached to Circular 24/149 (2024). www.ice.com/publicdocs/circulars/24149_attach.pdf
The exchange's own contract terms · United Kingdom
ICE Futures U.S.. ICE Futures U.S. Rulebook, Chapter 9: Cocoa Rules. www.ice.com/publicdocs/rulebooks/futures_us/9_Cocoa.pdf
The exchange's own contract terms · United States
CAOBISCO, ECA and FCC. Cocoa Beans: Chocolate and Cocoa Industry Quality Requirements (online knowledge base) (2023, as updated online). qm.cocoaquality.eu/quality-standards-used-in-the-cocoa-trade/other-standards-used-in-trade-contracts
The organisation's own account · International
Cocoa Merchants' Association of America. Home page. www.cocoamerchants.com/
The organisation's own account · United States
CAOBISCO, ECA and FCC. Cocoa Beans: Chocolate and Cocoa Industry Quality Requirements (online knowledge base) (2023, as updated online). qm.cocoaquality.eu/quality-standards-used-in-the-cocoa-trade/introduction
The organisation's own account · International

Reviewed 9 October 2026.