September 8, 2006

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle mostly up on CBOT, weather

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Friday, supported by overnight gains on the Chicago Board of Trade and an early frost in major producing regions, analysts said.

 

The most active January 2007 contract settled RMB6 higher at RMB2,552 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,546 and RMB2,557/tonne.

 

Total trading volume fell to 14,106 lots from 28,048 lots Thursday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

"Soybean futures rose, tracking CBOT's gains," said Liu Xinghua, an analyst at Great Wall Futures Co.

 

Li Honglei, an analyst at Nanhua Futures Co., agreed with Liu, adding "an early frost in Heilongjiang province (a major soybean producing region) offered some help to soybean futures."

 

No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mostly lower, but the benchmark September contract settled at RMB2,598/tonne, up RMB70/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures settled higher. The benchmark January 2007 contract rose RMB7 to settle at RMB2,244/tonne, after trading between RMB2,238 and RMB2,251/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for soymeal fell to 112,810 lots from 218,744 lots Thursday.

 

"Soymeal futures opened higher, but fell in the later session on long liquidation, showing investors are still not very bullish on soymeal despite recent signs of a recovery in demand," Liu said.

 

Soyoil settled mostly higher. The most widely held January 2007 contract rose RMB48 to settle at RMB5,633/tonne.

 

"Demand for soyoil is expected to rise in the fall, providing support to futures," Li said.

 

Corn futures settled mostly higher. The benchmark May 2007 contract settled at RMB1,421/tonne, up RMB10.

 

Total trading volume for corn fell to 337,284 lots from 345,380 lots Thursday.

 

"Corn futures' rises extended to today, thanks to CBOT gains. Moreover, an early frost in Heilongjiang, a major corn producing area, also helped corn futures. Some fresh buying was seen today," Liu added.