June 10, 2009

China's soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday, with the market expecting a favorable U.S. Department of Agriculture report to be released tonight.

 

The benchmark January 2010 soy contract settled RMB12 higher at RMB3,710 a metric tonne, up 0.3%.

 

The contract opened higher, supported by expectations of tighter U.S. ending stocks for the 2008-09 crop year ending August, data for which are to be issued in the USDA report, and a weaker dollar.

 

The USDA is scheduled to release its June supply and demand tables at 1230 GMT, with strong exports and good crushing progress due to high demand likely to tighten ending stocks.

 

However, the contract edged lower during the session, and finally stumbled into the negative territory in the afternoon session due to lack of market confidence amid concerns of a possible release of soys by China's government soon.

 

The market is likely to consolidate in the near term, awaiting clearer direction, said Tianqi Futures in its daily analysis note.

 

The trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 458,090 lots from 328,022 lots Tuesday.

 

The open interest rose 9,022 lots to 360,782 lots Wednesday.

 

Corn and soy oil futures settled higher, while soy meal and palm oil futures settled lower.

 

Wednesday'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         3,710         Up   12       458,090

Corn             Jan 2010         1,635          Up    6       190,738

Soymeal        Jan 2010         2,982         Dn   13    2,360,038

Palm Oil        Jan 2010         6,484          Dn   36       397,682

Soyoil           Jan 2010         7,830          Up   14       839,796