Prices of cocoa beans rose for the sixth straight session on Friday and could hit a new high after 46 years, according to trading results, Azernews reports.

March cocoa bean futures rose 1% to $5,006 per ton in US ICE trade on Friday. The contract price on Thursday was at $4,956 a ton, the highest close since July 20, 1977, according to Dow Jones data.

Cocoa beans rose 15 % in January, the biggest increase since November 2020. According to a Commerzbank survey, the cocoa bean harvest is lagging behind the previous crop year.

Exporters' estimates show that cocoa bean shipments to ports in Côte d'Ivoire, the world's largest commodity producer, were 35 % less than the same period of the year between the start of the increase in October and the end of January. Commerzbank noted.

This means that the cocoa bean market will face a deficit for the third consecutive year, banking experts said.

“The availability of cocoa from West Africa remains restricted and projections for another production deficit against demand for the coming year are increasing,” Jack Scoville, vice president of the Price Futures Group, wrote in Friday report.

“Traders are worried about another short production year and these feelings have been enhanced by El Niño that is threatening West Africa crops with hot and dry weather,” he said.