Cocoa has a rich and storied history. It was introduced into Central America by the ancient Mayans and brought to Europe by the Spaniards in the 1500s. According to Spanish accounts, Aztec emperor Moctezuma II had 50 pitchers of chocolate prepared for him daily, served in a golden goblet with a golden spoon.

Today, more than 3,000,000 metric tons of cocoa are grown each year across the world. Cocoa has a wide variety of uses, from chocolate to cocoa butter to coloring agents for food products. Although cocoa is one of the world’s smallest soft commodity markets, it has global implications on cocoa importers and exporters, food and candy producers, and the retail industry. As a result of its popularity, the New York Mercantile Exchange has made available a cocoa futures contract for trading on the CME Globex® trading platform and for clearing through NYMEX ClearPort® clearing. p>

The size of each contract is 10 metric tons and its commodity code is CJ. It is financially settled, and the final settlement price will be set at the value of New York Board of Trade cocoa futures contract on the termination day of the contract month, or as specified by the NYMEX Board of Directors.