Friday: China soy futures settle up on CBOT, higher Import costs

 

 

Soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday, along with the rise on Chicago Board of Trade overnight and rising soy import costs.

 

The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled RMB23 higher at RMB3,827 a metric tonne.

 

The contract opened higher, then edged lower during the session, but was well supported at RMB3,800/tonne.

 

Strong U.S. soy export data pushed futures prices higher on the CBOT overnight, and with the benchmark price effectively breaking out of a consolidation range of $9.50-$10.30 per bushel that has held since early October, traders were more willing to try to push prices higher, said Xu Zhimou, an analyst with Ruida Futures Brokerage.

 

Rising soy import costs, due to shipping charges as reflected in a higher Baltic Dry Index, also supported local prices, he said, adding the next resistance level for DCE's September contract could be RMB3,880/tonne.

 

Analysts don't expect much room for the contract to trade higher, however, due to pressure from the U.S. harvest and normal weather in South America.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 215,886 lots from 160,852 lots Thursday.

 

Open interest fell 1,840 lots to 254,000 lots Friday.

 

Corn futures settled little changed, soymeal futures and palm oil futures settled higher, and soyoil futures settled lower.

 

Following are Friday'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      3,827        Up   23    215,886

Corn        May 2010      1,766        Dn    1    107,610

Soymeal  Sep 2010      2,948        Up   29  2,177,288

Palm Oil   May 2010      6,494        Up    6    187,754

Soyoil      Sep 2010      7,688        Dn   18    863,180