May 22, 2008
Thursday: China soyoil futures settle up; supporting soybean contracts
China's soybean oil futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled sharply higher Thursday, buoyed by crude oil prices hitting a new record. The gain in soy oil also helped support soybean prices.
The benchmark September 2008 soy oil contract settled RMB274 higher at RMB11,290 a metric tonne, up 2.5%.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB71 higher at RMB4,528/tonne, up 1.6%.
U.S. crude oil futures spiked above US$135 a barrel Thursday in Asia as traders snapped up contracts in the wake of bullish U.S. oil data overnight.
But DCE soy oil contracts edged lower in the afternoon session, as big trader COFCO Ltd. preferred to arbitrage, said a local trader.
China imported 296,777 tonnes of soy oil in April, up 41% on year, while the January-April imports totaled 1.02 million tonnes, up 28% on year, the General Administration of Customs said Thursday.
The Dalian bourse issued a statement Thursday aimed at preventing short-term speculation in soy oil contracts.
If a trader chooses to cover positions opened the same day, the service charges will be raised to RMB2 a lot from RMB1/lot as of Monday, the statement said.
This is aimed at preventing price volatility in soy oil contracts as crude oil prices have been surging, said analysts.
Li Honglei, an analyst at Nanhua Futures, said the hike in service charges could be negative news to soy oil contracts.
Trading volume for all contracts was 287,774 lots Thursday, up from 217,196 lots Wednesday.
Palm oil futures and soybean meal futures settled higher while corn futures settled little changed.
Thursday'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 4,528 Up 71 1,199,884
Corn Jan 2009 1,907 Dn 3 467,764
Soymeal Sep 2008 3,679 Up 34 314,892
Palm Oil Sep 2008 10,550 Up 130 13,172
Soyoil Sep 2008 11,290 Up 274 287,774
