June 25, 2009

Soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly lower Thursday as supply concerns kept traders on the sidelines.

 

The benchmark January 2010 soy contract settled RMB5 a metric tonne lower at RMB3,631/tonne.

 

Concerns about possible sales from the government's soy reserves helped to push funds into other crop contracts, said Zhang Chunjiang, an analyst at China International Futures Co.

 

And although Chicago Board of Trade soy ended higher overnight, those contracts haven't escaped downward pressure from a technical point of view, he said.

 

However, nearby technical support and weather news from major local and global soy producing areas underpin favorable sentiment for the Dalian contracts in the near term.

 

Tianqi Futures pegs RMB3,600/tonne to be a strong support level for the benchmark contract in the short term.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts declined to 179,186 lots from 246,304 lots Wednesday.

 

Open interest fell 7,060 lots to 348,252 lots Thursday.

 

Corn futures settled little changed, soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures settled higher.

 

Thursday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

                                   

Contract     Settlement     Price        Change       Volume

Soy             Jan 2010      3,631        Dn    5       179,186

Corn            Jan 2010     1,624         Up    1         57,872

Soymeal      Jan 2010      2,858        Up   10    1,206,780

Palm Oil       Jan 2010      6,104        Up   96       837,738

Soyoil          Jan 2010      7,400        Up   58       979,400