May 26, 2006

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT; corn up,new highs

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday after a quiet session, following overnight gains in the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract settled up RMB10 at RMB2,661 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,658/tonne and RMB2,668/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all soybean contracts shrank further to 21,724 lots from 31,332 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 RMB4 to settle at RMB2,553/tonne.

 

Without much fresh news to trade, soybeans have more or less recently become a reflection of other commodities market movements, said analysts.

 

"Speculators are carefully watching the weather in the U.S., looking for chances of an uptrend," said a Zhejiang-based trader.

 

"But Dalian's soybean futures are fundamentally weaker, given the large imports to arrive in the following months," he said.

 

With no material growth of feed demand, analysts said they still couldn't see when the consolidation will end.

 

Soymeal futures settled higher. The benchmark November 2006 contract rose RMB15 to settle at RMB2,334/tonne, after trading between RMB2,327/tonne and RMB2,342/tonne.

 

Total trading volume fell to 221,582 lots from 225,344 lots Thursday.

 

Soyoil futures were also up. The benchmark September 2006 soyoil contract settled RMB27 higher at RMB5,218/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled higher on strong buying, with outside markets lending some support, analysts said.

 

The benchmark March 2007 contract gained RMB22 to settle at RMB1,535/tonne, after hitting its all-time high at RMB1,541/tonne in afternoon session.

 

Total trading volume for all corn contracts rose to 813,112 lots from 628,814 lots Thursday.

 

"Investors are still confident of a further rise of corn futures, amid the market talk that the unusual weather in China's northeast is impacting the crops," said Tang Yi, a market analyst with Louis Dreyfus Beijing Corp.