April 9, 2008

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle slightly up; market remains cautious

 

 

China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday, but the market was cautious ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's report due Wednesday night.

 

The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB35 higher at RMB3,973 a metric tonne.

 

The USDA is scheduled to release its April agricultural supply and demand estimates Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. EDT, with many analysts expecting it to be negative for the market.

 

But they also said the Mar. 31 USDA report, which has heavily impacted market sentiment with higher-than-expected data on new crop year soybean acreage, will be the most negative one this year.

 

Subsequent reports can't be worse and the market has factored it in already, said a manager at a state grain reserves house.

 

Analysts said soybean prices have been falling after the Mar. 31 report, which may encourage farmers to grow more corn when they make final decisions.

 

The recent consolidation in soybean prices shows contracts may have hit the bottom, said an analyst at Shanghai JCI, a grain consultancy firm.

 

Palm oil futures, soy oil futures and soymeal futures settled mostly higher, while corn futures settled almost unchanged.

 

The port workers' strike in Indonesia lent some support to vegetable oil prices.

 

Wednesday'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          3,973            Up 35         1,195,458

Corn                 Sep 2008          1,753            Dn 1             648,232

Soymeal           Sep 2008          3,163            Up 34           469,000

Palm Oil            May 2008        10,338            Up 50              7,824

Soyoil               Sep 2008        10,860            Up 74           470,848