March 23, 2006

 

Thursday: China soybean futures lower on CBOT fall; corn down

 

 

Soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Thursday in thin trade on losses in after-hour Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures, analysts said.

 

"Some speculators who built up long positions earlier this week quickly exited the market," said Zeng Xuezhou, an analyst with Beite Futures Co.

 

Although the local market was slightly boosted by the news that bird flu is controlled in the country, the market still faces an over-supply, Zeng said.

 

"After all, it's hard for local futures to be on the track of an uptrend without CBOT's confirmation," he added.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract fell RMB8 to settle at RMB2,674 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,669/tonne and RMB2,680/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all soybean contracts shrank to 40,530 lots from 57,220 lots Wednesday.

 

One lot equals 10 tonnes.

 

No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mixed.

 

The benchmark September contract fell RMB8 to settle at RMB2,579/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures settled mostly lower along with soybeans. The benchmark September 2006 soymeal down RMB11 to settle at RMB2,276/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all soymeal contracts fell to 158,354 lots from 297,452 lots Wednesday.

 

Soyoil futures settled mixed. The benchmark September 2006 contract down RMB10 to settle at RMB5,152/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled slightly lower on overnight losses in CBOT corn futures, analysts said.

 

The most widely held September 2006 contract opened lower on CBOT, but bargain hunting pushed up the prices later in the session. It settled RMB3 lower to RMB1,402/tonne.

 

Total open interest rose 1,664 lots to 570,496 lots.