May 22, 2009
Friday: China soy futures settle up on CBOT rise; new funds flow in
Soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday as a continued rise on the Chicago Board of Trade has made domestic soys more competitive.
The benchmark January 2010 soy contract settled RMB50 a metric tonne higher at RMB3,626/tonne, up 1.4%.
The rally in CBOT soy futures boosted expectations for higher domestic prices, and local traders and processing plants are competing with the government to purchase soys due to dwindling supply.
New funds were flowing into the market after the January contract broke through resistance at RMB3,600/tonne.
"The coming two weeks will be key for the contract to test RMB3,800/tonne, if CBOT prices continue to rise," said Wang Hongbo, an analyst with Fangzheng Futures.
China's soy imports in April rose 55% on year to 3.71 million tonnes, the General Administration of Customs said Friday.
In the January-April period, soy imports rose 36% to 13.86 million tonnes.
The rising global soy prices and ample domestic supply will help reduce demand for soy imports in the coming weeks, the China National Grain and Oils Information Center said in a note issued Friday.
Trading volume for all soy contracts rose to 766,232 lots from 728,692 lots Thursday.
Open interest rose 20,296 lots to 389,086 lots.
Corn futures and palm oil futures settled lower, but soymeal futures and soyoil futures settled higher.
The rising soy import costs helped support soymeal and soyoil prices.
Friday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and the volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soy Jan 2010 3,626 Up 50 766,232
Corn Sep 2009 1,671 Dn 7 85,528
Soymeal Sep 2009 2,963 Up 28 1,004,408
Palm Oil Sep 2009 6,700 Dn 16 357,422
Soyoil Sep 2009 7,500 Up 30 1,137,870
