Monday: China soy futures settle up, tracking external markets

 

 

Soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Monday, along with a strong rise in external markets.

 

The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled up RMB36 or 1.0% at RMB3,816 a metric tonne.

 

A big rise in metals and energy on the first trading session after the week-long Lunar New Year holiday helped boost sentiment in agricultural products, said analysts.

 

Soy futures traded on the Chicago Board of Trade rose slightly during China's holiday.

 

But expected record-high soy output in South America continues to put downward pressure on soy prices, they added.

 

Concerns about more domestic credit tightening have prompted the market to expect an interest rate hike as early as March, after Beijing raised banks' reserve requirement ratio right before the holiday, the second such hike this year.

 

"The shift to a tighter monetary policy will put more (downward) pressure on commodities futures," said Xu Wenjie, an analyst with Tianma Futures.

 

Trading volume for all soy contracts rose to 193,280 lots from 140,184 lots ahead of the holiday.

 

Open interest rose 3,614 lots to 340,722 lots.

 

Corn futures, soyoil futures, palm oil futures and soymeal futures all settled higher.

 

The following are Monday'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

Soy        Sep 2010      3,816        Up   36    193,280

Corn       Sep 2010      1,864        Up    7     34,226

Soymeal  Sep 2010      2,803        Up   26    639,680

Palm Oil  Sep 2010      6,922        Up  122    459,684

Soyoil     Sep 2010      7,496        Up   96    414,294