May 9, 2008
Friday: China soybean futures settle tad up on stable cash prices
Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled moderately higher Friday, supported by stable cash prices.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contracts settled RMB20 higher at RMB4,222 a metric tonne, or up 0.48%, after trading between RMB4,193 and RMB4,250/tonne.
Dwindling domestic supplies of soybeans in farmers' and traders' hands provided room for a further rise in soybean prices, said Tianqi Futures.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to release its monthly supply and demand report Friday, including the first balance sheet projections for the 2008-09 marketing year.
Some analysts expected the report to be slightly negative for the market.
Following a recent period of continuous moderate gains, September 2008 contracts face resistance at RMB5,300/tonne, while January 2009 contracts may tumble if they fail to rise further, said Jinyuan Futures.
Sluggish soyoil demand also kept demand for soybeans at low levels.
China imported 2.39 million metric tonnes of soybeans in April, a person familiar with the data told Dow Jones Newswires Friday, down 9.8% from a year earlier.
The country also imported 910,000 tonnes of edible vegetable oil last month, the person said.
Palm oil futures and soyoil futures settled mostly lower.
Soymeal futures and corn futures settled higher.
Following are Friday'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 4,222 Up 20 700,686
Corn Jan 2009 1,979 Up 5 702,724
Soymeal Sep 2008 3,441 Up 4 295,894
Palm Oil Sep 2008 10,272 Dn 14 43,940
Soyoil Sep 2008 10,810 Dn 20 246,016
