February 11, 2009
Wednesday: China soy futures settle down, but fall milder than CBOT
Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Wednesday after a mildly friendly U.S. Department of Agriculture report triggered profit-taking on the Chicago Board of Trade overnight.
The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract settled RMB39 or 1.1% lower at RMB3,541 a metric tonne.
The USDA estimated 2008-09 U.S. soybean ending stocks at 210 million bushels, down from its previous forecast of 225 million but above the average of a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 203 million bushels.
Traders on the DCE began taking profits yesterday ahead of the long-expected favorable USDA report.
Short position holders took the initiative to sell in expectation of lower prices, said analysts.
The tumble in U.S. equity markets and fall in crude oil prices overnight helped weigh down CBOT soybean prices, which met technical resistance after a recent rise, said Li Dongji, an analyst at Guotai Jun'an Futures.
But a downside trend on the DCE hasn't been established yet, so its fall lagged behind that of CBOT, he added.
CBOT March soybeans finished 8 cents lower Tuesday at US$9.94/bushel, down 7.4%.
The Chinese government's purchase of domestic soybeans has been supporting the DCE prices, said an analyst with a government think tank.
Trading volume for all soybean contracts rose to 386,382 lots from 296,698 lots Tuesday.
Opening interest increased 7,138 lots to 315,086 lots.
Corn futures settled higher, but soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures settled lower.
Wednesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and the volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Sep 2009 3,541 Dn 39 386,382
Corn Sep 2009 1,671 Up 22 350,804
Soymeal May 2009 2,809 Dn 25 590,492
Palm Oil May 2009 5,434 Dn 90 211,972
Soyoil May 2009 6,458 Dn 114 652,152
