February 1, 2007

 

Thursday: China soybean futures higher, chasing recent rise on CBOT

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Thursday, in an effort to catch up with the recent rise on the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The most active September 2007 contract settled up RMB14 at RMB3,116 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 181,624 lots versus 178,298 lots Wednesday. One lot equals 10 tonnes.

 

"The recent rise in the domestic market lagged far behind that on CBOT," said a Beijing-based trader.

 

Analysts said as the domestic market usually watches the CBOT for direction, the rise on Dalian indicates CBOT soybean futures are likely to rise further tonneight.

 

Rising soyoil prices also supported soybean prices, the trader said.

 

Soyoil futures settled mostly higher, supported by a fresh high in crude oil prices, while soymeal futures also settled up.

 

Corn and soyoil can be used to make alternative fuels.

 

Traders said today's rise may indicate that domestic soyoil futures have bottomed out.

 

The benchmark May 2007 soyoil contract settled RMB38 higher at RMB6,506/tonne. The most active September soymeal contract settled up RMB7 at RMB2,581/tonne.

 

Crude oil futures surged to a fresh four-week high Wednesday after U.S. government data showed distillate inventories, which include heating oil, fell more than expected amid continued forecasts for cold U.S. weather.

 

Corn futures also settled higher, with the benchmark September contract up RMB7 at RMB1,716/tonne.

 

Trading volume for corn contracts totaled 487,282 lots, compared with 452,784 lots Wednesday.