May 19, 2006

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle lower in thin trade

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Friday in thin trade, tracking overnight losses in Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract settled RMB6 lower at RMB2,648 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,641 and RMB2,658/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all soybean contracts shrank to 15,976 lots from 24,848 lots Thursday. One lot equals 10 tonnes.

 

No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mostly up.

 

The benchmark September contract rose RMB2 to settle at RMB2,550/tonne.

 

"Investors were again back to a wait-and-see status, reluctant to build new positions in such a directionless market, without fresh news to trade on," said Lin Hui, an analyst with China International Futures Co.

 

"After all, soybeans' fundamentals are too weak, and as other commodities are no longer lending support to soybeans, they have no momentum to rise," she said.

 

Soymeal futures settled lower. The benchmark November 2006 contract fell RMB10 to settle at RMB2,349/tonne, after trading between RMB2,338 and RMB2,357/tonne.

 

Total trading volume fell to 213,644 lots from 400,100 lots Thursday.

 

Soyoil futures settled mostly lower. The benchmark September 2006 contract rose RMB2 to settle at RMB5,203/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled mostly higher, but the benchmark March 2007 contract fell RMB5 to settle at RMB1,500/tonne, after trading between RMB1,495 and RMB1,507/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts fell to 588,308 lots from 858,800 lots Thursday.

 

"Corn (futures) have much better fundamentals than soybeans, as indicated by rising corn prices in the spot market, but they still need some support from other commodities," Lin said.