January 25, 2010

Indian soy futures fall on meal exports slump

Indian soy futures dropped on Monday (Jan 25) afternoon as weak spot demand due to a drop in meal exports continued to hurt sentiment, though firm overseas markets limited the losses, analysts said.

"Same old fundamentals are affecting soy. Meal exports are not improving and there is no sign of revival in near future," said an analyst at Angel Commodities Broking Pvt Ltd.

India's oilmeal exports slumped 44% to 395,663 tonnes in December from 708,631 tonnes a year earlier, a leading trade body said earlier this month.

Indian millers say that since oil and meal do not command good prices, processing soy is economically unviable, reducing demand in the spot market.

Earlier, the February soy contract NSBG0 on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange was down 0.64% at Rs2,171 per 100 kg.

US March soy SH0 added 0.2% to US$9.53 per bushel and China's Dalian soy futures most-active contract DSAU0 rose 1%.

Malaysian crude palm oil futures rose nearly 1% on Monday after a cargo surveyor reported a strong recovery in exports but high stocks and weak commodity markets limited gains.