Wednesday: China soybean futures settle up on weather concerns, strike

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Wednesday, following overnight gains on the Chicago Board of Trade on weather concerns and the Argentine farmers' strike.

 

The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB72 higher at RMB5,054 per metric tonne, or up 1.4%, after trading between RMB5,001 and RMB5,090/tonne.

 

New crop contracts posted bigger gains than old crop contracts, with January contracts hitting record highs to catch up with the earlier rise in old crop contracts.

 

Concerns about bad weather in the U.S. Midwest growing regions is now the focus of the market, and with the resumption of the Argentine farmers' strike, global soybean prices are likely to remain in an upward trend, a local analyst said.

 

However, analysts said the narrowing gap between September and January contracts may indicate the chances of a big rise in the benchmark contracts are falling.

 

Soyoil futures, palm oil futures and soymeal futures settled higher, while corn futures settled mostly lower.

 

Soymeal cash prices pushed futures prices higher, but profit taking on sharp recent gains may limit any further rise in the near term, said analysts.

 

Following are Wednesday's settlement prices in yuan per metric tonne and volumes for all contracts in lots (one lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

 

Contract          Settlement          Price          Change          Volume

Soybean           Jan 2009           5,054          Up  72           538,702

Corn                Jan 2009           1,906           Dn   3           313,858

Soymeal          Sep 2008           4,264          Up  96           535,974

Palm Oil           Sep 2008         10,872          Up  10             21,178

Soyoil              Sep 2008         12,040          Up 126          208,860