August 1, 2007

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT gains; weather concern

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Wednesday, tracking overnight gains on the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soybean contract settled RMB40 higher at RMB3,429 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 525,434 lots from 313,346 lots Tuesday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

CBOT soybean futures ended higher Tuesday amid a hotter, drier Midwest weather outlook while the crop is moving into its critical yield stage.

 

Meanwhile, a drought in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China, along with reduced soybean acreage this year, has added to concerns of less soybean supply.

 

"The purchase prices of newly harvested soybeans in China are likely to rise from a year earlier following the CBOT rises," said Ma Mingwang, an analyst at Tianqi Futures in Heilongjiang.

 

He expected new soybean purchase prices to be above RMB2,800/tonne this year, compared with RMB2,000-RMB2,200/tonne last year.

 

Soymeal futures settled higher and soyoil futures settled mixed.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB6 higher at RMB2,632/tonne, while the benchmark January 2008 soyoil contract settled unchanged at RMB8,418/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled slightly higher.

 

The benchmark January 2008 contract settled RMB2 higher at RMB1,524/tonne.

 

Analysts said the recent recovery of corn prices is only a short-term rebound, as feedmeal demand is unlikely to pick up until next year due to a domestic shortage of pigs.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts declined to 537,552 lots from 629,246 lots Tuesday.