Thursday: China soybean futures settle down on CBOT; corn up on government's buy
Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Thursday, following losses overnight on the Chicago Board of Trade.
The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract settled RMB14, or 0.4%, lower at RMB3,329 a metric tonne.
Lower cash soybean prices and an improving outlook for Argentina soybean production also weighed on futures.
Argentina's soybean crop received some rain, leading the Agriculture Secretariat to raise its forecast Wednesday to 17 million hectares, up from 16.5 million hectares forecast last month.
Trading volume of all soybean contracts declined to 381,344 lots from 527,754 lots Thursday.
Open interest declined 8,114 lots to 352,684 lots Thursday.
Corn futures settled higher, supported by the government's new purchase plan.
The State Administration of Grain said Thursday the government will buy another 10 million metric tonnes of corn from the northeast producing areas to stabilize local prices. The new buying comes in addition to an earlier plan to purchase 30 million tonnes.
The government will announce more purchase plans after the current purchase is completed by late April, it said.
The interventions have helped cash corn prices to rise in the past week. These prices have been sluggish since a bumper harvest last year due to weak feedmeal and industrial demand.
Soymeal futures settled slightly higher, while soyoil futures and palm oil futures settled lower.
Thursday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (one lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Sep 2009 3,329 Dn 14 381,344
Corn Sep 2009 1,673 Up 5 97,754
Soymeal May 2009 2,566 Up 4 716,340
Palm Oil May 2009 5,074 Dn 92 162,434
Soyoil May 2009 6,008 Dn 62 397,086
