April 28, 2006

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle mostly up on physical buying

 

 

China's Dalian Commodity Exchange soybean futures settled mostly higher Friday on physical buying by feedmeal producers and other end users ahead of a week-long market holiday, said traders.

 

China's commodities futures markets will close May 1-5 for the Labor Day holiday. Trading resumes May 8.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract rose RMB15 to settle at RMB2,622 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,605 and RMB2,635/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for soybean futures increased to 57,762 lots from 41,474 lots Thursday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Besides physical buying, not much speculative buying was seen ahead of the holiday, with gains in soybean prices capped by a lack of fresh buying in the afternoon as investors tended to sign off early in the day.

 

The No. 2 soybean contracts, which can be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mostly higher on tentative buying.

 

The benchmark September 2006 contract rose RMB3 to RMB2,505/tonne, after trading between RMB2,499 and RMB2,525/tonne.

 

Soyoil futures settled sharply higher as food producers attempted to replenish their stocks for production during next week's holiday.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soyoil contract rose RMB30 to settle at RMB5,160/tonne, after trading between RMB5,134 and RMB5,184/tonne.

 

Dalian's soymeal futures settled higher, thanks to pre-holiday buying by poultry and livestock breeders.

 

The benchmark November 2006 soymeal contract added RMB25 to settle at RMB2,298/tonne after trading between RMB2,270 and RMB2,315/tonne.

 

Meanwhile, corn futures traded on the exchange settled higher, with the most heavily traded January 2007 contract rising RMB11 to settle at RMB1,434/tonne.