February 28, 2008
Thursday: China soybean futures settle down following losses at CBOT
Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled down Thursday, tracking overnight losses at Chicago Board of Trade.
The new benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB47 lower at 4,698 a metric tonne.
"There is a lack of news guiding trade, so soybeans are likely to consolidate (at current levels)," said Tu Xuan, an analyst at Shanghai JCI.
However, the reduced output in rapeseed crop this year and China's increasing soybean appetite in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics will continue to support the market.
Tu expected China's soybean imports in the first quarter to increase by around 10%, from 5.72 million tonnes in 2007.
Standard Chartered Bank said in its latest monthly report that commodities investors "are apparently shrugging off downside growth risks and instead focusing on the inflation prospects, tight fundamentals (for some commodities) and USD weakness."
At a fundamental level, the picture is also still supportive, although there is a risk that near-term market tightness is diverting attention from a potentially weak second half in terms of demand, it said.
Palm oil futures settled mostly lower while soyoil futures settled at new highs, following the near-high close of their counterparts at CBOT overnight.
DCE soyoil contracts were driven up by the large amount of fund inflows, said a trader at China National Vegetable Oil Corp.
However, some analysts warned of profit-taking opportunities for soyoil on its recent sustained surge.
Soymeal futures and corn futures settled lower.
Thursday'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 Jan 2009 4,698 Dn 47 647,440
Corn Sep 2008 1,786 Dn 8 339,296
Soymeal Sep 2008 3,530 Dn 36 685,148
Palm Oil May 2008 11,686 Dn 38 34,822
Soyoil Sep 2008 13,170 Up 146 474,030
