June 11, 2008
Wednesday: China soybean futures settle up on higher imports cost
China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday on rising soybean import costs.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contracts settled RMB39 higher at RMB4,854/tonne, or up 0.8%, after trading between RMB4,818 and RMB4,886/tonne.
High freight fees and global soybean prices combined to push soybean import prices higher.
China imported 13.65 million metric tonnes of soybeans in the first five months of the year, up 20.4% from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said Wednesday.
China imported 3.48 million tonnes of soybeans in May, it said, up 17.6% on year.
"The rise at (the Chicago Board of Trade), which broke through a limited range, attracted some speculative buying," said Xiao Jun, an analyst at Shanghai JCI, a commodity consultancy firm.
But he added that the U.S. dollar will likely strengthen in the second half, which would put downward pressure on the commodities market.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Tuesday estimated U.S. 2007-08 soybean ending stocks at 125 million bushels, down 20 million from the 145 million estimated in May.
It expected U.S. 2008-09 soybean ending stocks at 175 million bushels, down from the May estimate of 185 million.
Soyoil and soymeal futures settled mostly higher while corn futures settled mostly slightly lower.
Soyoil prices jumped in the afternoon session on higher cash prices, as processing plants hiked sales prices due to the high cost of importing soybeans.
Palm oil futures settled mixed.
Wednesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Jan 2009 4,854 Up 39 661,722
Corn Jan 2009 1,909 Dn 3 470,598
Soymeal Sep 2008 4,007 Up 88 690,196
Palm Oil Sep 2008 10,706 Up 10 13,318
Soyoil Sep 2008 11,544 Up 80 175,248
