June 20, 2006
Tuesday: China soybean futures settle down on bird flu, other markets
Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly lower Tuesday, on a new outbreak of bird flu, losses in other commodities futures, and Monday's Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures, analysts and traders said.
The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract fell RMB14 to settle at RMB2,600 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,590/tonne and RMB2,644/tonne.
Trading volume for all soybean contracts rose to 14,016 lots from 8,058 lots Monday.
One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.
The benchmark September No. 2 soybean contract, the only contract that was traded Friday, settled RMB16 lower at RMB2,501/tonne.
No. 2 soybean contracts are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops.
China's Ministry of Agriculture reported a new outbreak of the H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens in Changzi county, Shanxi province.
"The news reads 'it's still far from a full recovery of feed demand' for us," said a Shanghai-based trader.
Meanwhile, losses in copper also "psychologically weighed on soybeans", said Dong Liang, an analyst with Jiuheng Futures Co.
Without market-favorable weather reports coming from the U.S., "it's still difficult to be optimistic," he added, although bargain hunting was seen in the late session.
Soymeal and soyoil futures also settled lower.
The benchmark November 2006 soymeal contract fell RMB20 to settle at RMB2,314/tonne, after trading between RMB2,301/tonne and RMB2,326/tonne.
Total trading volume rose to 225,628 lots from 197,394 lots Monday.
The benchmark September 2006 soyoil contract settled RMB7 lower at RMB5,124/tonne.
Corn futures settled lower on feed consumption concerns as well, analysts said.
The benchmark March 2007 contract fell RMB9 to settle at RMB1,459/tonne, after trading between RMB1,451/tonne and RMB1,471/tonne.
Total trading volume for all corn contracts rose to 521,072 lots from 484,234 lots Monday.
