March 20, 2009
Friday: China soy futures settle up on CBOT, crude oil rise
Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly higher Friday, supported by a big jump in soybeans on the Chicago Board of Trade overnight on dollar weakness and a rise in crude oil prices.
The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract settled RMB12 higher at RMB3,534 a metric tonne after trading between RMB3,508-RMB3,550/tonne.
The weak dollar and stronger crude oil prices overnight both helped support commodity prices.
But domestic soybean prices are at a level considered reasonable by the government and the market, so they have little room to rise or fall sharply, said Dong Shuangwei, an analyst with Capital Futures.
However, analysts don't expect the support from crude oil prices to be sustained, despite the rally in recent days.
"The poor outlook for the international economy means that oil consumption may continue to weaken," said Commonwealth Bank of Australia in its daily note.
Oil prices in the sub-US$40 a barrel region would be in the cards, it said.
Trading volume for all soybean contracts rose to 336,596 lots from 226,906 lots Thursday.
Open interest rose 2,294 lots to 328,562 lots.
Corn futures settled little changed, while soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures settled higher.
Soyoil futures were oversold earlier, and now they are rising to catch up with the cash prices, said Lv Qinghai with Tianqi Futures.
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 3,534 Up 12 336,596
Corn Sep 2009 1,716 Dn 1 140,520
Soymeal Sep 2009 2,691 Up 34 663,480
Palm Oil Sep 2009 5,402 Up 80 161,978
Soyoil Sep 2009 6,310 Up 126 789,122
