Cocoa prices have risen 70 per cent in the last year, bucking the weakness in overall commodities prices. The drop in sterling, which has fallen to almost parity with the euro, has helped to push London-based, sterling-denominated cocoa futures higher, but analysts said the main factor was low supplies.

The International Cocoa Organisation said in its latest monthly report that cocoa bean arrivals until the end of November at ports in Ivory Coast, which provides almost 40 per cent of the world's supplies, were the lowest in years.