Commodity News Calendar: Which Reports Should Traders Follow?
5 min read · Public
Build a useful commodity calendar around official releases: inflation, central banks, energy inventories, crop balances and COT positioning. Learn what each report can—and cannot—tell you.
The short answer
The best commodity calendar is selective. Follow releases that can change the market you research, know which period each release covers and check the official publisher for timing changes. A long list of events is less useful than a short list with clear questions and compatible comparison figures.
This is an evergreen report guide rather than a live calendar. Holiday schedules, publication delays and UK/US daylight-saving differences can change release times. Use the linked publisher pages for the current schedule instead of relying on a time copied into an old article.
Follow what happens next to cocoa prices
Receive dated figures, source-linked news and the next market briefing.
The first layer is macroeconomic: inflation, central-bank decisions and broader activity data. These can influence rates, currencies and demand expectations across markets.
The second is commodity-specific: stocks, production, processing, exports and crop conditions. The third is positioning and contract mechanics: COT snapshots, expiry, delivery and rollover. Keeping the layers separate helps explain why a busy macro day does not necessarily change cocoa’s physical balance.
A report map
Report or event
Main use
Important limitation
US CPI
Read consumer inflation and its composition
Not a commodity demand report
FOMC decision
Assess policy and guidance
Decision may already be expected
EIA petroleum report
Examine US crude and product balances
One country and one reporting period
USDA WASDE
Follow covered agricultural supply-use estimates
Not the main cocoa or coffee balance report
CFTC COT
Compare participant positions
Snapshot predates publication
Cocoa arrivals
Track reported port flows
Not a direct final-production measurement
Cocoa grindings
Track processing activity
Not identical to retail consumption
Exchange stocks
Assess a defined stock pool
Not total global inventory
Macro releases to watch
Use the BLS calendar for CPI and the Federal Reserve calendar for FOMC events. Record the actual release date separately from the period being measured. A November release may describe an earlier month, while a policy decision concerns the current policy setting and outlook.
For each macro event, write down the mechanism you intend to examine. “Could this change dollar or rate expectations?” is clearer than “Will cocoa rise?” The latter skips several steps between the economic data and a particular commodity.
Energy reports require more than the headline stock change
The EIA Weekly Petroleum Status Report is normally released on Wednesday at 10:30am US Eastern time, with exceptions shown in its schedule. Check that schedule rather than assuming every week follows the standard pattern.
A crude draw can reflect changes in imports, exports or refinery activity as well as consumption. Product inventories and the wider report help put the crude number in context. A single observation should not be treated as a complete measure of global oil demand.
USDA’s monthly WASDE provides supply-use estimates for its covered agricultural markets. It is a central reference for several grains and other commodities, but should not be presented as a monthly cocoa balance report. Check the report’s actual coverage before applying its conclusions to another crop.
For cocoa, the relevant evidence includes ICCO statistics, regional processing associations, crop reporting, port-flow estimates and exchange-stock data. Distinguish official statistics from trade estimates and company commentary. All can be useful, but they do not have identical coverage or certainty.
CFTC COT reports generally describe Tuesday positions and are published on Friday; the release schedule lists exceptions. The usual release time is 3:30pm US Eastern. The snapshot date is not the time when the information first became public.
For example, a Tuesday position snapshot published on Friday cannot explain a Wednesday reaction as if traders had already seen that Friday report. Similarly, a large Thursday price move may mean the positions have changed before publication.
Before the event, record the publisher, expected time, time zone, coverage, unit and previous compatible reading. Add a sourced expectation if available. If timing or consensus is unconfirmed, label it explicitly.
After release, add the actual figure, revisions, publication link and observation time. Then record the market reaction separately. This preserves the distinction between what happened in the data and what happened in price.
Field
Illustrative entry
Measure
Weekly reported arrivals
Unit
Tonnes per week
Comparison
Same reporting week on a stated basis
Actual result
Enter only after publication
Expectation
Unavailable unless sourced
Interpretation
Separate from the recorded observation
The example deliberately contains no invented arrival figure. A blank, honestly labelled field is more useful than a number inserted to make a calendar look complete.
Avoid calendar overload
Choose a small number of releases that could change your current research question. If you are investigating cocoa availability, arrivals and inventory coverage may deserve more attention than a distant economic release with no identified connection.
Use reminders for preparation and review, not just for the instant of publication. The most valuable work may be comparing the new result with its prior definition, checking a revision and updating your thesis later in the session.
Questions readers often ask
Are all times fixed in the UK? No. Convert from the publisher’s stated time zone and account for daylight-saving differences and holidays.
Does an important event always create a large move? No. The surprise, positioning and competing information matter. A significant report can be largely anticipated.
Can I use a calendar as a trade signal? A calendar tells you when information may arrive. It does not tell you the result or guarantee its price effect.
Additional reading context
Use the market overview for cocoa figures and upcoming releases, then the wider-markets desk for official cross-market reading links. Treat publisher pages as the final reference for timing.
Published research and personal commentary, not personalised investment advice. Trade ideas can fail; evaluate the assumptions and dated follow-ups. The original published post is preserved.