June 27, 2008
Friday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT gains, bullish soymeal
Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday, tracking overnight gains in the Chicago Board of Trade soybean contract.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract rose RMB76 to settle at RMB5,119 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB5,095/tonne and RMB5,148/tonne.
"The tone is quite good for soybean now - we have unfavorable U.S. weather conditions and speculative money inflows; hence we see a further upside," said Gao Yanrong, an analyst at Dalu Futures.
"Market participants are also eyeing the USDA reports Monday, which is expected to be price positive," said Gao.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, is expected to show a modest decrease in soybean seedings from its March prospective plantings report in its report scheduled for release at 1230 GMT Monday.
Analysts said a strong domestic demand and high production costs point to bullish soybean meal, which in turn lends support to soybean prices.
Soybeans are crushed to make soy meal and soybean oil.
Chinese importers bought 7-9 cargoes of soybeans mainly from the U.S. and Brazil this week, which are to be shipped in July and August, commodity consultancy Shanghai JCI said Friday.
Soy meal and soy oil futures also settled higher, but analysts are beginning to worry high prices will start damping demand, especially for soy meal, limiting further upside.
Corn futures settled little changed.
Friday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots:
Contract Price Change Volume
Soybeans Jan 2009 5,119 Up 76 581,300
Corn Jan 2009 1,927 Up 6 354,106
Soy Meal Jan 2009 4,101 Up 87 768,176
Palm Oil Sep 2008 10,750 Up 164 24,232
Soy Oil Sep 2008 11,788 Up 130 137,272
