March 10, 2009

China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly lower Tuesday, squaring off gains from Monday's trading session.

 

The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract dipped 0.2% to settle at RMB3,463 a metric tonne.

 

Dalian soybean could continue to consolidate in the near term as the market lacks direction from external factors, analysts said.

 

"Players have adopted a wait-and-see stance these days, and hopefully the preliminary trade data coming out tomorrow will give them some fresh cues," said Wang Xiaoguang, an analyst with Galaxy Futures.

 

Wang put nearby support at RMB3,300/tonne and tipped resistance at RMB3,600/tonne on chart-based cues.

 

Analysts said market participants will also watch the U.S. Department of Agriculture supply-and-demand report coming out Wednesday, "but we don't expect it to bring any positive momentum," said Wang.

 

Nevertheless, soybean could continue to get support from the 9-day annual parliamentary meeting that promises to boost consumption through government-sponsored spending, analysts said.

 

Trading volume of all soybean contracts declined to 219,100 lots from 267,598 lots Monday.

 

Open interest fell 2,894 lots to 338,614 lots Tuesday.

 

Corn futures settled slightly lower, while soymeal, palm oil and soyoil futures settle higher on the exchange.

                   

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

Soybean        Sep 2009          3,463        Dn   7       201,228

Corn              Sep 2009         1,691         Dn   5        68,316

Soymeal        Sep 2009          2,520        Up   20     737,746

Palm Oil         Sep 2009          5,316        Up   70     201,366

Soyoil            Sep 2009          6,102        Up   46     479,390