July 13, 2007

 

Friday: China soybean futures up on CBOT's 4th new high in a row

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Friday, following a new high set at the Chicago Board of Trade overnight, the fourth record close in a row.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soybean contract settled RMB19 higher at RMB3,387 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume declined to 298,012 lots from 310,436 lots Thursday. One lot is equivalent to 10 metric tonnes.

 

Tighter old and new crop inventory estimates, coupled with hot, dry weather conditions forecasted for the Midwest in late July, forced U.S. traders to add premium to prices.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated 2007-08 soybean ending stocks at 245 million bushels, down 75 million from June. It also trimmed 2006-07 ending stocks by 10 million bushels to 600 million.

 

"Domestic soybean prices are likely to rise further along with the CBOT gains, with the benchmark January contract likely touching RMB4,100 this year," said Gu Jianjun, a trader at Jinyuan Futures.

 

Soymeal futures settled mostly higher while soyoil futures settled mixed.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB25 higher at RMB2,702/tonne, while the benchmark September 2007 soyoil contract settled RMB4 lower at RMB8,128/tonne.

 

Traders expected demand from the feedmeal sector to recover at the end of this year.

 

Corn futures settled higher after falling continuously in recent sessions.

 

The benchmark January 2008 contract settled RMB7 higher at RMB1,503/tonne.

 

Gu said the benchmark January contract will not fall below RMB1,450/tonne. It traded between RMB1,498-RMB1,513/tonne Friday.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts declined to 330,098 lots from 523,106 lots Thursday.