September 21, 2012

South Korea starts booking soymeal imports as prices drop

As prices move off record highs hit earlier this month, South Korea has started booking imported soymeal for arrival early next year.

Major Feedmill Group and the Korea Feed Association have purchased one cargo each of 55,000 tonnes from Archer Daniels Midland at US$643.70/tonne and US$645/tonne, basis cost and freight, for arrival by January 5 and January 10, respectively, they said.

South Korea is a major soymeal importer, mostly for use in animal feed, and buys close to two million tonnes annually. But millers were keeping to the sidelines in recent months due to record-high prices.

The near-month soy futures contract on the Chicago Board of Trade, which hit a record US$17.9475 a bushel September 4, has since fallen sharply. The November contract briefly fell below US$16.40/bushel Tuesday (Sep 18). It was trading at US$16.7150 at 0346 GMT.

Cash prices are down by around US$30-35/tonne so far this month but still sharply higher than the first half of the year, when they were below US$500/tonne.