April 3, 2009

China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled little changed Friday, as traders were unwilling to make major moves ahead of the long weekend.

 

The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract settled RMB2 higher at RMB3,585 a metric tonne, or up 0.06%.

 

The market consolidated as traders were cautious before the three-day Tomb Sweeping holiday.

 

Chinese markets will be closed Monday on account of the holiday.

 

Meanwhile, as the government has acquired most of last year's soybean harvest, soybean trading on the DCE was very light compared with the same period last year.

 

But there was more upward momentum than downward pressure for domestic agricultural products as prices hovered at comparatively low levels and because there was little supply pressure due to the government's cash purchases, said Gao Yanrong, an analyst at Dalu Futures Co.

 

The trading volume of all soybean contracts rose to 205,206 lots from 159,644 lots Thursday.

 

The open interest rose 3,790 lots to 326,248 lots Friday.

 

Corn futures settled unchanged, while soybean meal, soybean oil and palm oil futures all settled higher.

 

Warm weather has boosted the demand for palm oil, which easily solidifies in winter to become unusable.

           

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         3,585        Up    2            205,206

Corn             Sep 2009         1,684        Unchanged        84,168

Soy Meal       Sep 2009         2,790        Up   27            966,996

Palm Oil        Sep 2009         5,748        Up   88            259,320

Soy Ol          Sep 2009         6,540        Up   90            652,980