July 10, 2007

 

Tuesday: China soybean futures settle down on slow soymeal demand

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly lower Tuesday on sluggish soymeal demand.

 

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

 

Total trading volume declined to 126,554 lots from 142,660 lots Monday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Slow demand from the feedmeal sector has cut into support from strengthening soybean contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade, which set new record highs last night.

 

China imported 2.52 million tonnes of soybean in June, according to preliminary data issued by the General Administration of Customs Tuesday.

 

The country imported 3.67 million tonnes of soybean during the same period last year.

 

During the first six months, China imported 13.85 million tonnes of soybean, down 1.4% from 14.05 million in a year earlier, it said.

 

But "rising soyoil prices could provide support to soybean prices later on" as some soyoil traders hoard soyoil for better prices, said Li Yang, a trader at Yongan Futures.

 

He added the high soyoil prices at CBOT and stabilizing palm oil prices in Malaysia both indicate there is room soyoil prices to rise in China.

 

Soymeal futures settled and soyoil futures settled mostly lower, tracking soybean losses.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB18 lower at RMB2,566/tonne, while the benchmark September 2007 soyoil contract settled RMB8 lower at RMB7,974/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled lower.

 

The benchmark January 2008 contract settled RMB20 lower at RMB1,516/tonne.

 

China exported 160,000 tonnes of corn in June, sharply up from 3,923 tonnes during the same period last year, Customs data showed.

 

During the first half of this year, the country exported 3.67 million tonnes of corn, up 61.8% from 2.27 million in a year earlier, it said.

 

Galaxy Futures trader Wang Xiaoguang said corn contract prices are "back to reasonable levels" after a jump during earlier months of this year, and are unlikely to pick up in the short term.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts rose to 603,142 lots from 446,094 lots Monday.