Wednesday: China soy futures up on concerns imports trapped at ports

 

 

Soy futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday due to concerns that January soy arrivals could be trapped at ports, boosting demand for local crop.

 

The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled RMB70, or 1.7%, higher at RMB4,140 a metric tonne.

 

Soy arriving at some Chinese ports can't be unloaded due to a new government rule that requires registration of the imports, traders said.

 

There are concerns that all soy arrivals in January could be temporarily trapped at the ports, but the actual impact is likely to be minimal, they said.

 

"Only a small volume of soy were affected, and the registration process is simple, thus unlikely to have much impact on the actual imports," said Liang Yong, an analyst with Galaxy Futures.

 

The government issued rules late last year requiring import permits for some agricultural products including soy. Analysts said it is aimed at monitoring and regulating imports more efficiently.

 

Heavy snowfalls in many parts of China also helped to boost agricultural product prices, as bad weather has blocked transportation of crops, tightening local supply.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts jumped to 872,612 lots from 257,818 lots Tuesday.

 

Open interest rose 69,232 lots to 414,176 lots Wednesday.

 

Corn futures, soymeal futures, palm oil futures and soyoil futures all settled higher.

 

Following are Wednesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

 

              Contract    Settlement Price  Change     Volume

Soy        Sep 2010      4,140        Up   70    872,612

Corn       Sep 2010      1,905        Up   10    181,352

Soymeal  Sep 2010      3,058        Up   18  1,528,138

Palm Oil  Sep 2010      7,400        Up   52    774,856

Soyoil     Sep 2010      8,096        Up   34  1,042,210