Monday: China soy futures down; broad pre-holiday liquidation
Soy futures fell on the Dalian Commodity Exchange Monday along with the wider equity and commodity markets, as traders took profit ahead of the long holidays.
The benchmark May 2010 soy contract settled 1.4% lower at RMB3,574 a metric tonne.
"There's nothing good on the news front, which is bad news for the complex," said Gao Yanrong, research manager for Dalu Futures.
With equity markets sliding about 3% in Shenzhen and Shanghai, commodity futures have also been rattled by recent hints of trade tensions.
China's Ministry of Commerce is formally starting to investigate imports of chicken products from the U.S., advancing a case it had first flagged two weeks ago, the ministry said Sunday.
Coming on the heels of the U.S. slapping punitive tariffs on Chinese tires earlier this month, commodity traders fear escalating reprisals.
"Once we get past the long holidays, we'll see what happens," Gao said.
Traders are also liquidating positions ahead of the national day celebrations due to start Oct. 1.
Memories of last year's post-holiday bloodbath still linger, Gao said; the market then returned after the national day break, during which Lehman Brothers collapsed, to meet consecutive days of limit-down selloff.
Soy futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended higher Friday, up on pre-weekend consolidation amid a quiet news front awaiting clearer yield and production reports from the fall harvest.
Corn, soymeal, soyoil and palm oil futures posted declines on the Dalian exchange Monday.
Monday's settlement prices in yuan a tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (one lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Product Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soy May 2010 3,574 Dn 51 275,806
Corn May 2010 1,712 Dn 10 103,204
Soymeal May 2010 2,680 Dn 31 920,960
Palm Oil May 2010 5,730 Dn 88 254,348
Soyoil May 2010 6,766 Dn 134 539,248
