August 9, 2007

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle up, tracking rally at CBOT

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Thursday, tracking an overnight rally at the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The most heavily traded May 2008 soybean contract settled RMB23 higher at RMB3,527 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume declined to 343,764 lots from 359,854 lots Wednesday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

CBOT soybean futures climbed to 2 1/2-week highs on bullish technical chart activity and weather concerns for the southern soybean crop belt.

 

Record high freight rates also helped support the prices of imported soybeans, an analyst at Yide Futures said.

 

Reduced domestic soybean output due to the drought in major northeast producing regions and falling imports will continue to keep soybean prices at high levels in the near term, analysts said.

 

Soymeal and soyoil futures settled higher.

 

The benchmark January 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB16 higher at RMB2,694/tonne, and the benchmark January 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB134 higher at RMB8,398/tonne.

 

Soyoil prices were rising on high import costs and low inventories at processing plants, said Shanghai JCI, a grain consultancy.

 

Corn futures settled slightly higher, with the most heavily traded May 2008 contract settling RMB6 higher at RMB1,563/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts declined to 574,002 lots from 597,932 lots Wednesday.