January 9, 2006

 

Monday: China soybean futures settle lower on CBOT; corn up

 

 

Soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Monday, dragged down by losses in soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday, traders said.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soybean contract settled RMB24 lower at RMB2,743 a metric tonne after trading between RMB2,725/tonne and RMB2,761/tonne.

 

The total trading volume rose to 283,182 lots from 261,826 lots Friday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Losses on CBOT Friday dragged prices lower at the opening bell, and long liquidation kept prices in negative territory, traders said.

 

"It's hard to find domestic factors that can pull up the prices right now, and as we're not very optimistic about CBOT's tendency, prices are likely to trade in a wide range before the Lunar New Year," said Zhang Shuang, an analyst with COFCO Futures Co.

 

Soymeal futures also settled lower, with the benchmark May 2006 contract settled RMB25 lower at RMB2,393/tonne after trading between RMB2,365/tonne and RMB2,414/tonne.

 

The total trading volume of soymeal futures rose to 833,766 lots, up from Friday's 711,738 lots.

 

Soyoil futures were traded for the first time Monday, and although prices opened higher, they were later dragged down by losses in soybean contracts.

 

The benchmark September 2006 contract settled at RMB5,164/tonne, RMB144 higher than the contract's set price, after trading between RMB5,070/tonne and RMB5,350/tonne.

 

The total trading volume of soyoil futures reached 138,638 lots. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

"We'll wait and see for a while for the new item, before entering the market, which is usually the case when a new item comes out," said Zhang.

 

Dalian's No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mostly lower.

 

The most heavily traded September 2006 No. 2 soybean contract settled RMB28 lower at RMB2,731/tonne, after trading between RMB2,691/tonne and RMB2,743/tonne.

 

Corn futures traded on the exchange settled slightly higher.

 

The most widely held September 2006 contract rose RMB1 to settle at RMB1,389/tonne, after trading between RMB1,384/tonne and RMB1,393/tonne.