August 23, 2007

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT gains

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Thursday, following overnight gains on the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soybean contract settled RMB42 higher at RMB3,637 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 280,476 lots from 238,558 lots Wednesday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

CBOT soybean futures rallied Wednesday, continuing their recovery from recent lows on technical buying and crop concerns.

 

China's complaint about quality issues with imports of U.S. soybean is unlikely to have any impact on the market as it is more of a political issue, said industry participants.

 

They said it had more to do with the current dispute over China's bulging trade surplus and the safety of Chinese exports.

 

China said Wednesday that there are quality issues associated with imports of U.S. soybeans and called for the U.S. to investigate the situation.

 

Soymeal futures settled up and soyoil futures settled mostly higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB38 higher at RMB2,919/tonne, and the benchmark January 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB48 higher at RMB7,976/tonne.

 

Chinese demand for imported vegetable oil will increase in the coming months due to factors including reduced domestic rapeseed output, tight pork supply and sluggish soymeal demand, said analysts.

 

Shanghai JCI, a consultancy firm, expected China's soyoil imports to be 2.4 million to 2.5 million tonnes in the 2006/07 crop year ending in September, up around 60% on year.

 

Corn futures settled slightly higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB5 higher at RMB1,590/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all corn contracts rose to 526,554 lots from 401,316 lots Wednesday.