Thursday: China soy futures settle up; support from CBOT gains

 

 

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

 

The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled RMB13 a metric tonne higher at RMB3,730/tonne.

 

Uncertainty about the Chinese government's purchasing plans hampered traders' efforts to build selling or buying momentum, leaving domestic soy prices rangebound.

 

"If prices fall, government buying will support, while (there isn't much room for prices to go higher either) unless U.S. soy (on the CBOT) rise above $11 (per bushel)," said an analyst with Jiusan Oil and Fat Co.

 

CBOT November soy finished 2 1/4 cents higher at $9.63 3/4 per bushel Wednesday due to speculative buying and spillover support from gold and crude oil.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 133,628 lots from 94,602 lots Wednesday.

 

Open interest fell 5,296 lots to 251,436 lots Thursday.

 

Corn futures settled lower, while soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures all settled higher.

 

Soymeal cash prices, which are between RMB3,500 and RMB3,600/tonne, are much higher than front-month futures prices, and that is helping to push contract prices higher, said Yuan Jianbin, an analyst with Guangfa Futures.

 

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         Sep 2010      3,730        Up     13        133,628

Corn       May 2010      1,751        Dn      3         120,986

Soymeal  May 2010      2,903        Up     23      1,181,160

Palm Oil  May 2010      6,268        Up      52       236,762

Soyoil     May 2010      7,364        Up      22       782,874