June 4, 2007

 

Monday: China soybean futures settle up on weather concerns in U.S.

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Monday, as their counterparts on Chicago Board of Trade rose Friday on weather concerns.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soybean contract settled RMB26 higher at RMB3,338 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 188,880 lots from 126,416 lots Friday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Concerns surfaced that light showers forecast for this week won't provide much relief to dry areas of the Southeast, Delta and eastern Midwest.

 

The concern helped July soybeans to settle 11 1/4 cents higher on CBOT at US$8.17 1/2.

 

Many analysts expect the July contract to rise beyond US$8.20 in the near term.

 

Strong soybean prices also supported futures contracts.

 

Last week, soybean prices in China's major producing regions were RMB60-RMB100/tonne higher on rising soyoil demand.

 

Soymeal contracts settled higher while soyoil futures settled mixed.

 

The benchmark September 2007 soymeal contract settled RMB31 higher at RMB2,575/tonne, while the benchmark September 2007 soyoil contract settled RMB4 lower at RMB7,726/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled lower. The benchmark September 2007 contract settled unchanged at RMB1,663/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts declined to 93,654 lots from 138,914 lots Friday.