Tuesday: China soy futures settle up on CBOT, weather in South America
China's soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Tuesday, tracking a rise on the Chicago Board of Trade overnight.
The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled RMB38, or 1.0%, higher at RMB3,854 a metric tonne.
The contract moved into positive territory on the back of concerns that heavy rain might threaten Argentina's soy crop quality and delay northern Brazil's harvest.
However, with monetary policy in many countries tightening, compared with relatively easy credit since the onset of the global economic downturn, commodities prices could face more downward pressure, analysts said.
Agricultural products may not react as strongly to financial policy shifts as metals and energy, Galaxy Futures said in a note, adding that China's policies will continue to support agricultural product prices.
The government will continue to protect soy farmers' interests through its purchasing policy and stick to the policy of selling the crop at prices higher than purchase prices, said Han Jun, head of the Rural Economy Department at the State Council's Development Research Center.
Han said Tuesday that China's annual soy imports will likely be steady compared with last year's 42.55 million tonnes as domestic demand isn't very price-elastic.
Trading volume of all soy contracts doubled to 386,584 lots from 193,280 lots Monday.
Open interest rose 25,598 lots to 366,320 lots Tuesday.
Corn, soyoil, palm oil and soymeal futures all settled higher.
Following are Tuesday'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 3,854 Up 38 386,584
Corn Sep 2010 1,872 Up 8 87,982
Soymeal Sep 2010 2,852 Up 49 1,380,800
Palm Oil Sep 2010 6,972 Up 50 411,822
Soyoil Sep 2010 7,544 Up 48 473,442
