May 20, 2009

China's soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday, tracking a Chicago Board of Trade rise overnight.

 

The benchmark January 2010 soy contract settled RMB92 higher at RMB3,565 a metric tonne, up 2.6%.

 

The sudden rise in soy futures in the afternoon session could be due to some funds setting up fresh positions in the market, said analysts.

 

"The rise in CBOT, which sent import costs higher than RMB4,000/tonne based on yesterday's settlement price, gave domestic prices an excuse to rise," said Li Dongji, an analyst with Guotai Jun'an Futures Brokerage.

 

Earlier this year, domestic soy prices were higher than global ones, preventing the government from selling local produce.

 

But analysts said rising global prices have helped the government inch closer to its original target of selling local soys higher than the purchase price.

 

The government aimed to buy a total of 7.25 million tonnes of soys from the local market at RMB3,700/tonne.

 

The trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 861,864 lots from 125,572 lots Tuesday.

 

The open interest rose 56,842 lots to 389,930 lots.

 

Corn futures settled mixed, while soy meal, soy oil 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           3,565         Up   92      861,864

Corn               Sep 2009           1,680         Up    3        75,812

Soy Meal         Sep 2009            2,940        Up   37   1,434,714

Palm Oil          Sep 2009            6,760        Up   54      447,580

Soy Oil            Sep 2009            7,520        Up   62   1,205,518