July 9, 2007

 

Monday: China soybean futures settle down on falling soymeal prices

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Monday on falling soymeal futures prices.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soybean contract settled RMB13 lower at RMB3,279 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 142,660 lots from 83,054 lots Friday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Ample soymeal stocks put pressure on prices and feedmeal demand might not recover until the end of the year, later than expected, said Wu Weijun, general manager at Investment Administration Department under Huixin Futures.

 

Some analysts forecast feedmeal demand to pick up in August or September.

 

But rising imported soybean prices and low profits will force some processing plants to reduce their amounts or even stop production, likely supporting soymeal and soyoil prices.

 

Analysts expect fewer soybean imports in the third quarter than the second quarter, which saw nearly 3 million tonnes in April and May each.

 

Soymeal futures settled lower and soyoil futures settled mixed.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB27 lower at RMB2,584/tonne, while the benchmark September 2007 soyoil contract settled RMB46 higher at RMB7,982/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled slower.

 

The benchmark January 2008 contract settled RMB4 lower at RMB1,536/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts rose to 446,094 lots from 358,202 lots Friday.