April 7, 2008

 

Monday: China soybean futures settle up; supported by edible oil

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Monday, supported by rising vegetable oil prices.

 

The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB85 higher, or 2.2%, at RMB3,959 a metric tonne.

 

Some technical buying pushed the market higher, but sentiment is still unstable.

 

There was some short covering in the late afternoon session, and traders with long positions took the opportunity to lock in profits.

 

This showed traders were uncertain about the outlook after recent big fluctuations, said Dong Shuangwei, an analyst at Capital Futures.

 

Some cash traders maintained a bearish outlook towards the market.

 

Many traders and processing plants stocked enough soyoil when prices were high to meet market demand until May, when new rapeseed oil will enter the market, said a local trader.

 

Palm oil, soyoil futures and soymeal futures settled higher, while corn futures settled lower.

 

A possible port workers strike in Indonesia, a major exporter of palm oil, would affect shipments of the commodity, tightening global supply.

 

Workers at Indonesia's state-run port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia will go on strike Tuesday if the government passes a bill aimed at ending the operator's monopoly on running 112 ports across the country, a union leader said Monday.

 

Monday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

 

Contract          Settlement          Price          Change          Volume

Soybean            Jan 2009          3,959          Up  85         1,213,148

Corn                 Sep 2008          1,766          Dn  7             457,538

Soymeal           Sep 2008          3,125          Up 100           499,726

Palm Oil            May 2008        10,272          Up 212              9,996

Soyoil               Sep 2008        10,816          Up 276           420,700