July 7, 2009
Monday: China soy futures settle down; consolidating in wider range
China's soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Monday, with the market entering a phase of consolidation in a wide range after it failed to rebound aggressively last week.
The most actively traded January 2010 soy contract settled RMB32 a tonne lower, or 0.9%, at RMB3,625/tonne.
Traders stayed on the sidelines awaiting clearer guidance from the Chicago Board of Trade, which was closed Friday for a public holiday in the U.S.
Soy and soy products on DCE followed declines on e-CBOT, while weaker crude oil prices and bearish sentiment resulting from earlier U.S. macroeconomic data also added downward pressure.
Still, dwindling domestic soy supplies, which helped cash prices rise Monday, will support futures prices as well, said analysts.
Trading volume of all soy contracts declined to 173,416 lots from 211,274 lots Friday.
Open interest rose 4,742 lots to 350,380 lots Monday.
Corn futures, soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures also settled lower.
Palm oil futures tracked declines in their counterpart on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives exchange.
Monday's settlement prices in yuan a 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 3,625 Dn 32 173,416
Corn Jan 2010 1,613 Dn 10 127,992
Soymeal Jan 2010 2,885 Dn 53 1,803,070
Palm Oil Jan 2010 5,800 Dn 66 656,240
Soyoil Jan 2010 7,194 Dn 50 1,057,152
