June 5, 2009

Soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday, along with big gains overnight on the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The benchmark January 2010 soy contract settled up 1.6% at RMB3,779 a metric tonne.

 

Rising global soy prices and higher freight fees helped to push domestic soy prices higher.

 

Broad gains in commodities markets also provided a favorable environment for agricultural products, said Wang Xiaoguang, an analyst with Galaxy Futures.

 

However, the contract gave back some of its early gains by the closing bell due to profit-taking ahead of the weekend.

 

"There is the need for a (downward) correction after the recent big gains," Wang said.

 

The contract broke through RMB3,800/tonne during the session to hit its highest level so far this year.

 

Trading volume for all soy contracts declined to 311,088 lots from 345,304 lots Thursday. Open interest fell 12,142 lots to 346,194 lots Friday.

 

Corn futures settled lower, while soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures settled higher.

Friday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

                                        
Contract         Settlement         Price        Change       Volume

Soy                Jan 2010           3,779        Up   59       311,088

Corn              Jan 2010           1,666        Dn   12       298,096

Soymeal        Jan 2010            3,070        Up   73    2,581,988

Palm Oil         Jan 2010            6,684        Up  146      156,940

Soyoil            Jan 2010            7,948        Up  156      685,864