January 24, 2008

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle lower on CBOT fall overnight

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Thursday after Chicago Board of Trade soybeans hit limit-down overnight.

 

The benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled RMB76 lower at RMB4,531 a metric tonne.

 

But soft commodity futures on the exchange recovered in the afternoon session from earlier losses on bargain hunting as traders felt prices had fallen to reasonable ranges, said Zhang Junxue, research chief at Yongan Futures.

 

However, confidence hurt by U.S. subprime woes hasn't fully recovered yet, as it takes time for the market to calculate the impact, he added.

 

An overnight price fall in crude oil, the most influential commodity, caused a decline in the overall commodities market.

 

Consumption of crude oil may fall as a result of a weaker U.S. economy, which may prompt less demand for grain from industrial users, adding pressure to grain prices, said a manager at Changjiang Futures.

 

Surging global crude oil prices and industrial use of grain have pushed up domestic prices, as China is a big importer of crude oil, oilseeds and vegetable oil.

 

The country's prices of goods, especially food, still face big upward pressure in 2008, and curbing the price rise is the government's major task, said National Bureau of Statistics Director Xie Fuzhan during a press conference Thursday.

 

The domestic soft commodities market has been weak recently on concerns over the government's price control measures.

 

China's consumer price index in December rose 6.5% on year, bringing the full-year rise to 4.8%, significantly higher than the 1.5% rise in 2006 and also the fastest annual increase since 1996's 8.3% rise.

 

Palm oil futures, soyoil futures, soymeal futures and corn futures all settled lower.

 

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

 

               Contract     Settlement Price   Change     Volume

Soybeans Sep 2008      4,531         Dn     76          891,658

Corn        Sep 2008      1,728         Dn      2          251,694

Soymeal  Sep 2008      3,207          Dn     52         607,948

Palm Oil   May 2008      9,258         Dn    260         24,654

Soyoil      May 2008     10,368         Dn   142         393,042