June 5, 2007

 

Tuesday: China soybean futures settle mostly higher, have room to rise

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Tuesday, supported by high prices at the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soybean contract settled RMB3 higher at RMB3,341 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume declined to 161,104 lots from 188,880 lots Monday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Benchmark July soybeans on CBOT settled 1 3/4 cents lower at $8.15 3/4.

 

However, "as long as the July contract stays above US$8.00, there is a chance for domestic futures to catch up with the gains on CBOT," said Xu Wenjie, a trader at Tianma Futures Co.

 

While the CBOT benchmark contract reached its recent high of US$8.17 1/2 Friday, the domestic benchmark January 2008 contract is yet to touch its recent intraday high of RMB3,392/tonne in late May, he said.

 

The January contract traded between RMB3,329 and RMB3,353/tonne Tuesday.

 

Soymeal and soyoil futures settled mostly higher.

 

However, the benchmark September 2007 soymeal contract settled RMB4 lower at RMB2,571/tonne, while the benchmark September 2007 soyoil contract settled RMB58 higher at RMB7,784/tonne.

 

Rising soyoil prices were supported by high vegetable oil prices, said traders.

 

Corn futures also settled higher. The benchmark September 2007 contract settled RMB2 higher at RMB1,665/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts declined to 89,706 lots from 93,654 lots Monday.