November 11, 2005

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle mostly higher; tracks CBOT

 

 

China's Dalian Commodity Exchange soybean futures settled mostly higher Friday, tracking a rising trend in U.S. soybean futures intraday Thursday, traders said.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soybean contract rose RMB4 a metric tonne to settle at RMB2,735/tonne, after trading between RMB2,724/tonne and RMB2,748/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for soybean futures increased to 226,788 lots from 167,960 lots Thursday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

"As the Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures were strong during Thursday's trading, fresh local buying pushed many DCE contracts up despite concerns about bird flu," said a trader at Zhejiang Tianma Futures Co.

 

Local investors have been concerned about the outbreak of bird flu in some Chinese provinces, as the epidemic might hurt demand for soymeal, a key byproduct of soybean processing.

 

The No. 2 soybean contracts, which can be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically-modified crops, settled mixed, with transactions for only two of the six contracts.

 

The benchmark May 2006 contract edged down RMB1/tonne to RMB2,713/tonne.

 

Dalian's soymeal futures settled mostly higher following the uptick soybean futures.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soymeal contract added RMB6/tonne to settle at RMB2,336/tonne after trading between RMB2,322/tonne and RMB2,350/tonne.

 

Meanwhile, corn futures traded on the exchange settled mostly higher, but gains were light amid speculative buying.

 

The most heavily traded May 2006 contract rose RMB1/tonne to RMB1,255/tonne, after trading between RMB1,252/tonne and RMB1,259/tonne.