February 26, 2008
Tuesday: China soybean futures settle down following e-CBOT losses
Soybean futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Tuesday, tracking losses in Chicago Board of Trade's electronic trading during Asian hours.
The benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled RMB52 lower at RMB5,147 a metric tonne.
In the afternoon session, soybean futures retreated from earlier moderate gains after e-CBOT fell into negative territory.
"(Technically speaking) the CBOT was overbought last night and it may face pressure of downward correction tonneight," said Liu Xinghua, an analyst at Great Wall Futures Co.
However, the fundamentals haven't changed and the technical correction may last only one or two sessions, Liu added.
Palm oil futures and soyoil futures settled higher but soymeal futures and corn futures settled mostly lower.
High demand for soyoil has resulted in increased soymeal production as producers crush soybean for soyoil.
However, demand for soymeal hasn't kept pace with that of soyoil, as the hog population remains low due to slaughters ahead of the Spring Festival and the recent heavy snowstorms in southern China that killed many pigs.
Also, concerns over the spread of bird flu have kept the poultry population low.
The latest outbreak in southwest Guizhou province killed 3,993 birds, the Ministry of Agriculture said late Monday.
Another 23,8364 birds were slaughtered to prevent the disease from spreading, it said, adding the epidemic was under control.
This is China's fourth bird flu outbreak this year, with two recorded in the southwestern Tibet Autonneomous Region and one in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonneomous Region.
Tuesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots (one lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Sep 2008 5,147 Dn 52 927,248
Corn Sep 2008 1,803 Dn 6 650,942
Soymeal Sep 2008 3,560 Dn 62 1,019,520
Palm Oil May 2008 11,484 Up 88 28,538
Soyoil May 2008 13,118 Up 46 641,898
