June 23, 2006

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle lower on CBOT; corn down

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Friday on a lack of supportive news, along with overnight losses in Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract fell RMB7 to settle at RMB2,602 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,600 and RMB2,609/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all soybean contracts rose to 6,926 lots from 5,030 lots Thursday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mixed.

 

The benchmark September contract settled RMB12 lower at RMB2,509/tonne.

 

"The market just lacked good news to underpin prices," said a Beijing-based analyst.

 

There were no market-supportive reports on weather conditions, while huge arrivals of imports at ports heavily weighed on cash values, he said.

 

Other commodities also failed to lend support to soy futures, he added.

 

Soymeal and soyoil futures settled lower, in line with soybean futures.

 

The benchmark November 2006 soymeal contract fell RMB13 to settle at RMB2,316/tonne, after trading between RMB2,313 and RMB2,321/tonne.

 

Total trading volume shrank further to 121,380 lots from 178,988 lots Thursday.

 

The mostly widely held September 2006 soyoil contract settled RMB11 lower at RMB5,140/tonne.

 

Corn futures also settled lower, pressured by a slow recovery in feed demand amid falling soybean prices, analysts said.

 

The benchmark March 2007 contract settled RMB10 lower at RMB1,472/tonne, after trading between RMB1,469 and RMB1,476/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for all corn contracts fell to 282,080 lots from 360,778 lots Thursday.