September 8, 2008

 

Monday: China soybean futures settle mostly up; may stay rangebound
    

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly a tad up Monday on short-covering, following the slide last week, and analysts said rangebound trade is highly likely before the new harvest.

 

The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB14 higher at RMB4,126 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB4,104/tonne and RMB4,147/tonne.

 

"Soybean, as well as soy meal and soy oil, will be affected more by the U.S. dollar and the performance of the whole commodity complex than their own fundamentals," said a senior analyst at an investment house in Beijing.

 

"There is no big issue for soy futures at the moment, and rangebound trade likely to persist for a while," he said.

 

China's new soybean harvest is expected in less than a month, and the spot market currently is very quiet, with merchants waiting on the sidelines.

 

Soybean meal futures settled mixed, while soybean oil futures settled up, along with soybean.

 

Traders said high soy meal stocks and a weak demand are likely to further weigh down soy meal prices.

 

Corn futures settled little changed.

 

"The expectation of a good harvest and the overall weakness in commodities will continue adding pressure on corn prices," said the analyst.

 

Monday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots:

 

Contract            Settlement             Price           Change          Volume

Soybeans           Jan 2009               4,126           Up  14           835,486

Corn                  May2009               1,790           Dn   3           231,808

Soy Meal            Jan 2009               3,442           Dn  13           721,380

Palm Oil             Jan 2009               7,230            Up   2             41,854

Soy Oil               Jan 2009               8,758           Up  10           377,148