October 30, 2007

 

Tuesday: China soybean futures settle mostly down on govt policy concerns

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly lower Tuesday on concerns over a possible change in government policy on vegetable oil prices.

 

There have been rumors that China is considering cutting import tariffs for vegetable oils to curb rising prices.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soybean contract settled RMB35 lower at RMB4,406 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume declined to 789,664 lots from 885,564 lots Monday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

China's National Development and Reform Commission, the country's economic planner, said over the weekend that the government will strengthen its control over vegetable oil prices and will closely monitor them.

 

Over the long term, however, supply of vegetable oil and fats will be tight, helping to support vegetable oil prices, said Shanghai JCI, a grain consultancy firm.

 

China's newly-listed palm oil futures contracts settled higher in their second session on record high crude oil prices.

 

The most heavily traded May 2008 palm oil contract settled at RMB8,608/tonne, up RMB194 from Monday.

 

But the near-term palm oil contracts face downward pressure due to dwindling demand in winter, said a local purchaser.

 

Total trading volume for palm oil futures rose to 23,860 lots from 4,042 lots Monday.

 

Soymeal futures and soyoil futures settled mixed.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB17 lower at RMB3,327/tonne and the benchmark May 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB26 lower at RMB8,910/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled mostly higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB21 higher at RMB1,712/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for all corn futures rose to 1,367,010 lots from 1,202,988 lots Monday.