DUTCH COCOA PROCESSORS UNHAPPY WITH ICCO BUFFER
  Dutch cocoa processors are unhappy with
  the intermittent buying activities of the International Cocoa
  Organization's buffer stock manager, industry sources told
  Reuters.
      "The way he is operating at the moment is doing almost
  nothing to support the market. In fact he could be said to be
  actively depressing it," one company spokesman said.
      Including the 3,000 tonnes he acquired on Friday, the total
  amount of cocoa bought by the buffer stock manager since he
  recently began support operations totals 21,000 tonnes.
      Despite this buying, the price of cocoa is well under the
  1,600 Special Drawing Rights, SDRs, a tonne level below which
  the bsm is obliged to buy cocoa off the market.
      "Even before he started operations, traders estimated the
  manager would need to buy at least up to his 75,000 tonnes
  maximum before prices moved up to or above the 1,600 SDR level,
  and yet he appears reluctant to do so," one manufacturer said.
      "We all hoped the manager would move into the market to buy
  up to 75,000 tonnes in a fairly short period, and then simply
  step back," he added.
      "The way the manager is only nibbling at the edge of the
  market at the moment is actually depressing sentiment and the
  market because everyone is holding back from both buying and
  selling waiting to see what the manager will do next," one
  processor said.
      "As long as his buying tactics remain the same the market is
  likely to stay in the doldrums, and I see no indication he is
  about to alter his methods," he added.
      Processors and chocolate manufacturers said consumer prices
  for cocoa products were unlikely to be affected by buffer stock
  buying for some time to come.
  

