October 18, 2007

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle mixed on CBOT fall

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mixed Thursday, following Chicago Board of Trade losses overnight.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soybean contract settled RMB9 higher at RMB4,222 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 958,504 lots from 860,256 lots Wednesday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

A quiet news front kept CBOT soybean futures following the lead of soyoil and crude oil for most of the session Wednesday, while the domestic market is waiting for further guidance from CBOT.

 

High CBOT prices and rising freight fees, along with reduced domestic output this year, will continue to support domestic soybean prices, said Xu Wenjie, an analyst at Tianma Futures Co.

 

Rising demand for iron ore, coal and the busy shipments ahead of the Christmas have pushed soybean freight fees from the U.S. to Chinese ports to a historical high of $124/tonne recently.

 

Soymeal futures settled mixed and soyoil futures settled mostly lower.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB8 higher at RMB3,232/tonne, and the benchmark May 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB58 lower at RMB8,626/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled lower.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB8 lower at RMB1,643/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for all corn futures rose to 464,374 lots from 403,620 lots Wednesday.