July 17, 2008
Thursday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT but under pressure
Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Thursday, following an overnight rise on the Chicago Board of Trade.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB76 higher at RMB4,977 a metric tonne, up 1.6% after trading between RMB4,964-RMB4,997/tonne.
But the benchmark contract failed to break through important technical resistance at RMB5,000/tonne, showing that upward momentum is under pressure, said analysts.
The weather shouldn't be of too much concern, as there are only about three months before the harvest and output is unlikely to be threatened by a sustained weather problem, said Li Dongji, an analyst at Guotai Junan Futures.
China's consumer price index rose 7.1% on year in June, slower than an 8.7% increase in February, which was a near 12-year high, and was also below a 7.7% rise in May, official data issued Thursday showed.
Although prices of goods are still under pressure to rise further, China's "CPI inflation will gradually trend down to 5% toward the end of 2008" on sustained monetary tightening programs, said Goldman Sachs in a note released after the data was published.
Milder inflation growth, a possible downward correction in crude oil prices and the harvesting of new soybeans and grains will put pressure on commodities prices in the third quarter, said analysts.
Soyoil futures, palm oil futures and soymeal futures settled higher, while corn futures settled little changed.
Thursday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and the volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Jan 2009 4,977 Up 76 511,532
Corn Jan 2009 1,909 Up 1 212,172
Soymeal Jan 2009 3,981 Up 50 535,974
Palm Oil Sep 2008 10,368 Up 18 19,694
Soyoil Jan 2009 11,510 Up 70 90,640
