May 11, 2007

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle mixed; market awaits USDA report

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mixed Friday, with the market cautious ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's May supply/demand report.

 

The benchmark September 2007 contract settled RMB2 lower at RMB3,143 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 119,622 lots from 108,602 lots Thursday. One lot equals 10 tonnes.

 

The USDA report is due out at 8:30 a.m. EDT.

 

According to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 15 analysts, the average estimate for 2006-07 ending stocks was 607 million bushels, down from 615 million in April.

 

Analysts said fundamentals won't be clear before the USDA issues actual planting area of crops by end-June.

 

Thus, the benchmark September contract is likely to consolidate between RMB3,120-RMB3,180/tonne in the near term, said Kang Bing, research manager at Jingyi Futures Co.

 

Soymeal futures settled lower, but soyoil futures settled mostly higher.

 

The benchmark September 2007 soymeal contract fell RMB17 to settle at RMB2,536/tonne, while the benchmark September 2007 soyoil contract settled RMB62 higher at RMB7,074/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled mostly lower. The benchmark September 2007 contract settled RMB8 lower at RMB1,666/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts rose to 287,026 lots from 261,776 lots Thursday.