The New York Board of Trade's (NYBOT) active March cocoa contract slid $18 to settle at $1,445 a tonne, just $3 above the bottom of a trading range from $1,442 to $1,465.
It was the weakest settlement for the contract since December 19. May cocoa likewise dipped $18 to end at $1,467 a tonne, while back month contracts lost $16 to $21 from Friday.
NYBOT markets were closed on Monday for the Christmas holiday. "There was a little bit of spec selling today, but it was pretty quiet without London," said a trader, estimating final futures trading volume at relatively thin 4,235 lots. London's cocoa futures market was closed today for a public holiday.
The Liffe exchange will resume business at normal hours on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Ivory Coast's ports saw a surge in bean arrivals from the bush, indicating bean supply from the 2005/06 (October-March) main crop is still strong.
Port deliveries had been slowing down to as low as 36,000 tonnes in recent weeks, but bounced to 50,000-55,000 tonnes in the week to December 25, exporters' estimates showed on Tuesday.
By December 25, cocoa bean arrivals had reached 613,000-618,000 tonnes, well above the 455,000 tonnes at the same time last year, according to Ivory Coast exporters.