Thursday: China soy futures settle up a tad following CBOT gains
Soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly higher Thursday, tracking gains on the Chicago Board of Trade overnight.
The benchmark May 2010 soy contract settled up RMB9, or 0.2%, at RMB3,701 a metric tonne.
The contract consolidated within a tight range of RMB3,683-RMB3,724/tonne, after its CBOT counterpart trimmed intraday gains in profit-taking near the closing bell Wednesday.
The Chinese government's supportive policies and a decline in output this year continue to support the market pending fresh trading guidance.
Trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 210,710 lots from 182,676 lots Wednesday.
Open interest fell 4,922 lots to 274,904 lots Thursday.
Corn futures and soyoil futures settled marginally lower, while soymeal futures and palm oil futures settled slightly higher.
Low soy imports and higher feedmeal demand are likely to keep soymeal prices at current high levels in the near term, the China National Grain and Oil Information Center said in a note issued Thursday.
China imported 2.75 million tonnes of soy in September, down 33% from a year earlier to the lowest monthly volume so far this year.
Soy imports in October are likely to fall further to 1.8 million-2 million tonnes, CNGOIC said.
But with the arrival of a big new U.S. soy crop starting in late October, soy and soymeal prices are likely to be under increasing downward pressure, analysts said.
Following are Thursday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soy May 2010 3,701 Up 9 210,710
Corn May 2010 1,736 Dn 2 68,522
Soymeal May 2010 2,863 Up 10 1,534,072
Palm Oil May 2010 6,030 Up 6 169,536
Soyoil May 2010 7,094 Dn 6 491,920
