April 8, 2008

 

Tuesday: China soybean futures settle mixed ahead of USDA Wednesday report

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mixed Tuesday, following losses on the Chicago Board of Trade overnight.

 

Investors were reluctant to hunt for bargains despite the recent fall, ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's supply and demand report, which could be negative for buyers.

 

The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB21 lower, or 0.5%, at RMB3,938 a metric tonne.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release its April supply and demand estimates Wednesday at 1230 GMT. The average estimate in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of analysts pegs 2007-08 soybean ending stocks at 157 million bushels, up from the March estimate of 140 million.

 

Other uncertainties including crop production estimates for South America, also kept market participants cautious during the harvest season, said a local analyst.

 

Gao Yunyue, an analyst at Dadi Futures, expected the market to consolidate within tight range in the near term.

 

Palm oil futures settled mixed, and soyoil futures settled mostly lower.

 

Soymeal futures mostly settled slightly higher while corn futures settled lower.

 

Another outbreak of bird flu in China has "definitely" hit investor confidence in the recovery of feedmeal demand later this year, said an analyst at Shanghai JCI.

 

China's Ministry of Agriculture on Monday confirmed an outbreak of bird flu in Tibet Autonneomous Region. The ministry said the H5N1 bird flu is now under control, after 268 birds were reported dead on a farm at Zhuba Village of Qamdo County Friday.

 

There have been six bird flu outbreaks in China so far this year, compared with three in 2007.

 

Tuesday'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           3,938           Dn  21        1,003,170

Corn                Sep 2008           1,754           Dn  12          561,026

Soymeal          Sep 2008           3,129           Up   4           364,954

Palm Oil           May 2008         10,288           Up  16             9,974

Soyoil              Sep 2008         10,786           Dn  30          389,700