November 15, 2005
Tuesday: China soybean futures settle down on CBOT; new bird flu case
China's Dalian Commodity Exchange soybean futures settled lower in subdued trading Tuesday, tracking an overnight fall in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans.
The benchmark May 2006 soybean contract surrendered its gains Monday, falling RMB15 to settle at RMB2,735 a metric tonne, after trading in a narrow range of RMB2,727 and RMB2,743/tonne.
Total trading volume for soybean futures decreased to 128,936 lots from 230,190 lots Monday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.
Analysts said some players liquidated their holdings in the local market following overnight losses in CBOT soybeans and confirmation of a new case of bird flu in China.
However, some analysts said the latest outbreak had little impact on the market.
"It's not something new to the industry - perhaps many have prepared for a possible worst-case scenario," one said.
Late Monday, the Ministry of Agriculture said on its Web site that a new case of the disease in Anhui province has been confirmed, bringing the total number of cases in China to nine in the past month.
The bird flu virus kills poultry and in turn undermines demand for feed such as soymeal and corn.
Only one of the six No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, was traded. It ended RMB7 higher at RMB2,672/tonne.
Dalian's soymeal futures settled lower, with the benchmark May 2006 soymeal contract losing RMB13 to settle at RMB2,342/tonne.
The contract traded between RMB2,334/tonne and RMB2,349/tonne during the day.
In recent weeks, trading in soymeal futures has been more active than in soybeans, as bird flu outbreaks have a larger impact on the soymeal market.
Corn futures traded on the exchange settled lower, moving in line with soy futures.
The most heavily traded September 2006 contract gave up RMB4 to settle at RMB1,287/tonne, after trading between RMB1,284 and RMB1,294/tonne.
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