October 11, 2007

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT, rising freight fees

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Thursday, following the overnight gains at the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soybean contract settled RMB37 higher at RMB4,200 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 812,526 lots from 699,724 lots Wednesday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

CBOT soybean futures rose Wednesday on position-squaring and fears the U.S. government will cut its estimate for U.S. harvested acreage.

 

Rising freight fees also pushed the cost of imported soybeans higher, helping to limit the downside room for domestic soybeans, said a local analyst.

 

Soymeal futures and soyoil futures settled higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB22 higher at RMB3,175/tonne, and the benchmark May 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB68 higher at RMB8,546/tonne.

 

Tight stocks at soyoil processing plants and rising palm oil cash prices helped to push soyoil prices higher, said traders.

 

Corn futures settled lower.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB6 lower at RMB1,654/tonne.

 

Corn futures are unlikely to post strong gains in the near term as domestic supply will be larger than demand in 2007, said analysts.

 

But corn contracts may be supported over the longer run as quite a lot corn acreage is likely to shift to soybeans next year due to high soybean prices, while feedmeal consumption will grow steadily, said the China Food Industry Network.

 

Total trading volume for all corn futures rose to 522,932 lots from 439,902 lots Wednesday.