March 13, 2009

China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday, tracking the rise in Chicago Board of Trade and crude oil prices overnight.

 

The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract settled RMB16 a metric tonne, or 0.5%, higher at RMB3,461/tonne after trading between RMB3,448 and 3,478/tonne during the session.

 

Government policies such as state purchases have also been supporting domestic soybean prices.

 

"The government's purchase helped to limit the downside for domestic soybean prices," said Wang Xiaoguang, an analyst at Galaxy Futures.

 

Chinese traders have been buying more overseas soybeans last week as imported soybeans far cost much less than domestic ones, the China National Grain and Oils Information Center said in a report.

 

The shortfall of soybean supply in China has widened while supply of corn and wheat has exceeded demand, said Nie Zhenbang, chief of the State Administration of Grain.

 

China's soybean output this year is likely to fall 3.2% to 15 million tonnes on a 3.7% acreage decline, according to the grain administration.

 

Trading volume of all soybean contracts declined to 227,190 lots from 317,982 lots Thursday.

 

Open interest fell 19,942 lots to 331,854 lots Friday.

 

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

 

Friday'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          3,461        Up   16     227,190

Corn              Sep 2009          1,687        Up    6        72,156

Soymeal         Sep 2009          2,550        Up   42     744,066

Palm Oil          Sep 2009          5,186        Up    4      131,842

Soyoil             Sep 2009          6,002        Up   18     342,330