May 13, 2009

Soy futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday, supported by expectations of rising cash prices.

The benchmark January 2010 soy contract settled RMB24 a metric tonne higher at RMB3,495/tonne, or up 0.7%.

 

The contract opened higher, but gave up some of its earlier gains after upward momentum couldn't be sustained.

 

Cash traders will have to compete with state reserve houses for local soys, as the government has said it will buy another 1.25 million tonnes of the crop from northeast producing areas.

 

However, the outbreak of A/H1N1 flu is still a potential threat to soy prices if it damps feedmeal consumption, said analysts.

 

China's Ministry of Health confirmed Wednesday that a man in the eastern province of Shandong who recently returned from Canada tested positive for A/H1N1 influenza.

 

The case is the second on the Chinese mainland so far.

 

Meanwhile, counterpart contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade didn't provide much trading guidance as the U.S. Department Of Agriculture supply and demand report, issued overnight, failed to surprise the market.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 206,722 lots from 163,702 lots Tuesday.

 

Open interest rose 3,938 lots to 337,330 lots Wednesday.

 

Corn futures, soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures all settled higher.

 

Wednesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

                          

Contract          Settlement        Price           Change       Volume

Soy                 Jan 2010          3,495           Up   24       206,722

Corn               Sep 2009          1,666           Up    7         57,702

Soymeal         Sep 2009          2,810           Up   33       965,926

Palm Oil          Sep 2009          7,028           Up  138      611,282

Soyoil             Sep 2009          7,798           Up  146   1,436,446