July 2, 2009

Soy futures settled slightly higher on the Dalian Commodity Exchange Thursday, despite closing in negative territory on a bout of technical selling after Wednesday's bounce from a key U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

 

The benchmark January 2010 soy contract settled 0.2% higher at RMB3,697 a metric tonne.

 

"Today's prices are all about technical moves, not fundamentals," said Gao Yanrong, research manager at Dalu Futures. "Traders earned enough from yesterday's rise, so they're reducing stock today."

 

Soy were buoyed after Tuesday's USDA annual acreage report, which posted U.S. 2009 soy planted area below analyst estimates, despite reaching a record high of 77.5 million acres.

 

Wednesday's 1% rise on Dalian preceded the Chicago Board of Trade's soy futures following suit to two-week highs.

 

"Lately, China's commodities prices have been out front, leading external commodity markets," Gao said.

 

Front-month U.S. soy futures eased Thursday after investors booked profit on the previous day's strong gains.

 

Weather worries continue to dog soy prices, with rains in China's bean-producing northeast threatening to raise new crop supply, said Li Honglei, a soy analyst with Nanhua Futures.

 

"Demand is still not that strong," Li said.

 

Corn and soymeal futures also posted gains, while palm oil and soyoil futures fell.

 

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       3,697        Up    7          142,204

Corn               Jan 2010       1,631        Up    5           49,212

Soymeal         Jan 2010       2,968        Up   26       1,813,408

Palm Oil          Jan 2010       6,062        Dn   70         599,188

Soyoil             Jan 2010       7,434        Dn   30      1,049,888