September 21, 2007

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT, inflation pressure

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Friday on rising prices at the Chicago Board of Trade and China's inflation outlook.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soybean contract settled RMB29 higher at RMB4,107 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume declined to 850,730 lots from 860,104 lots Thursday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

China issued a range of policies recently to stabilize rising domestic food prices, which caused August inflation to rise 6.5% from a year earlier, the highest level in 11 years.

 

Because China relies heavily on imports for soybean supplies, the measures to stabilize the prices of domestic soybean and soy products are less effective, said Xu Wenjie, an analyst at Tianma Futures Co.

 

China will make more grain and vegetable oils available in the market from state reserves to stabilize food prices, eight government departments including National Development and Reform Commission said in a joint statement published on the NDRC's Web site Friday.

 

However, "(The policies) showed there will be risks in the short term" if traders continue to push domestic commodities prices higher, said Gao Yanrong, an analyst at Dalu Futures Co.

 

Soymeal futures settled mostly lower and soyoil futures settled higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB5 lower at RMB3,197/tonne, and the benchmark May 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB32 higher at RMB8,342/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled mostly higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB3 higher at RMB1,659/tonne.