The New York Board of Trade's active December cocoa contract dipped $5 to settle at $1,403 a tonne, near the top end of a trading range from $1,388 to $1,408.
March cocoa declined $4 to end at $1,441 and back months retreated $4 to $6 on the day.
"There was pretty good fund selling, but pretty decent buying as well," said a trader.
"We came in $10 lower on the news about the (Ivory Coast) exports. There was some fund selling toward the lows, but the selling dried up and we started to move higher," he said.
Ivory Coast's government late on Monday posted a new set of cocoa taxes and levies for the 2005/06 season, opening the way for exports to resume.
Cocoa exports had been frozen since October 1 because a new tax package could not be approved due to government ministers disagreeing over whether to include a special savings fund.
The new tariffs will not be retroactive as the government changed the official start of the 2005/06 cocoa season to Monday from its customary data of October 1, a source at the state regulatory body told Reuters in Abidjan.
Meanwhile, traders said, a weaker dollar versus sterling spurred arbitrage-related buying in New York.
The dollar fell on Tuesday after weaker-than-expected United States consumer confidence data hinted that the impact of hurricanes and soaring energy prices could slow the economy's momentum and the pace of interest rate rises.
In London, Liffe's benchmark December cocoa contract settled down 1.1 percent at 835 pounds a tonne, after dealing from 824 to 841 pounds.
NYBOT cocoa futures trading volume reached an estimated 6,821 contracts, well below the previous session's official tally of 13,740 lots. Open interest rose 1,265 contracts on October 24 to 135,471 lots.