April 4, 2006
Tuesday: China soybean futures settle lower on CBOT; corn down
Soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Tuesday, with most contracts touching their lowest points since early December on overnight losses in soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade, said analysts.
Monday's CBOT seemed to be still digesting the negative impact of last Friday's USDA report, which led to follow-through losses in the local market, said Lin Hui, an analyst with China International Futures Co.
"After all, the impact of bearish fundamentals won't disappear shortly," Lin said.
The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract settled RMB22 lower at RMB2,635 a metric tonne, after stumbling to a four-month low of RMB2,628/tonne.
Trading volume for all soybean contracts rose to 91,572 lots from 79,554 lots Monday. Total open interest rose 9,484 lots to 285,984 lots. One lot equals 10 tonnes.
No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mostly lower.
The benchmark September contract lost RMB20 to settle at RMB2,545/tonne.
Soymeal futures settled lower along with soybean futures.
The benchmark September 2006 contract fell RMB20 to settle at RMB2,243/tonne, after trading between RMB2,234 and RMB2,253/tonne.
Although local demand for soymeal has been gradually picking up since mid-March, the rise is still not strong enough to underpin the futures prices, analysts said.
Soyoil futures settled mixed. The benchmark September 2006 contract settled RMB1 higher at RMB5,104/tonne.
Corn futures settled lower on the spillover effect from soy futures, said analysts.
"Although the USDA's report triggered gains in CBOT corn futures, local (corn futures) prices are too heavily pressured by soys," said Lin Hui.
This is mainly because corn is still used to produce feed in China, she said.
The most widely held September 2006 contract settled RMB10 lower at RMB1,397/tonne, after trading between RMB1,392 and RMB1,403/tonne.
