Pierre Andurand, the high-profile commodities hedge fund manager best known for his bold oil market calls, is scaling back his exposure to cocoa after a volatile and costly detour into the market led to deep losses across his funds, according to a report by Bloomberg.
In a recent letter to investors, Andurand acknowledged the setback, writing: “Recent performance has been very disappointing. Pierre Andurand has further reduced long cocoa exposure in all Andurand funds.”
The pullback follows a brutal six-month stretch for the flagship Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced Fund, which was down 57% year-to-date through June, after suffering from heavy losses in cocoa trades and poorly timed macro hedges.
Andurand began building exposure to cocoa in early 2024, based on a bullish view of long-term supply shortages from key producers including Ivory Coast and Ghana. Initial bets paid off handsomely, contributing to a 50% gain in 2024, but the strategy unraveled this year amid sharp price swings, macro shocks, and market illiquidity.
The turning point came in April 2025, when the fund ramped up its cocoa bet ahead of bullish bean processing data, only to get caught in a market whipsaw following President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement, which injected extreme volatility across global markets. The fund attempted to hedge risk with a short position on the S&P 500, but both trades were unwound prematurely, resulting in an 18% monthly loss.
Despite recovering briefly in May, cocoa prices slumped again in June and July, weighed down by soft demand from European processors. Andurand now concedes that the trade, while fundamentally sound, is unsuited to large-scale speculative positioning.
Still, Andurand hasn’t fully abandoned the cocoa thesis. In a more recent letter, he reaffirmed: “We still believe in the constructive cocoa story. But the price action and volatility have been too extreme.”
The setback is the latest chapter in Andurand’s highly volatile performance history, which has included both spectacular gains – such as 154% in 2020 – and dramatic drawdowns, including a 55% loss in 2023.
