Trading houses face losses of at least $1 billion on cocoa derivatives after major producer Ghana failed to deliver beans this year, forcing traders to liquidate short positions in a rallying market, six industry sources told Reuters.

Global cocoa prices soared this year after bad weather, bean disease, smuggling and illegal gold mining reduced production and the volume of beans available in Ghana, the world's number two producer.

Chocolate prices also rose globally and chocolate makers have reduced the size of products such as bars as a result of the huge cocoa price increase.

Ghanaian authorities, who sell all of the country's beans, want to delay delivery of up to 350,000 metric tons this season - nearly half of the cocoa beans they sold - due to Ghana's devastated crop, five sources told Reuters last month.

"Ghana's cocoa regulator said the country was looking to roll over "some volumes, but not in those quantities".

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