Tuesday: China soybean futures settle up, technical rebound; corn flat

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange reversed three consecutive days of losses, rising Tuesday on buying as technical charts showed the possibility of a rebound.

 

The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract rose RMB30 to settle at RMB4,902 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB4,852/tonne and RMB4,929/tonne.

 

This is a technical rebound after three days of losses, and "longs and shorts still seem to be caught amid diverged viewpoints," said Tianqi Futures in a daily note.

 

"The focus is on the weather -- if there's any bad news, prices might get ready for another record high; otherwise, it's likely to fall off," said Xu Yulan, an analyst with Yong'an Futures.

 

Soymeal futures settled higher, along with soybean, but soyoil fell on long liquidation, as investors worried about demand in the usual summer lull.

 

Corn futures settled little changed.

 

Latest data provided by the General Administration of Customs showed China turned to a net corn importer in May for the first time ever.

 

"The country is heading towards long-term dependence on corn imports...Given the significant loss in U.S. corn acreage due to the recent U.S. floods, China turning into a net importer of corn is likely to tighten corn market fundamentals even further," said Barclays Capital in a research note Monday.

 

Tuesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots:

 

Contract          Settlement          Price          Change          Volume

Soybeans          Jan 2009           4,902          Up 30            542,658

Corn                 Jan 2009           1,926          Up   3           690,416

Soymeal           Sep 2008           4,154          Up   4           319,336

Palm Oil            Sep 2008         10,486          Dn 44             14,144

Soyoil               Sep 2008         11,516          Dn 14           148,728