November 21, 2007

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle mostly up on CBOT rally, crude oil

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly higher Wednesday, after Chicago Board of Trade soybeans rallied overnight and crude oil futures surged to new highs of almost US$100 a barrel.

 

But the benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled RMB29 lower at RMB4,368 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 1,188,500 lots from 999,652 lots Tuesday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Surging domestic vegetable oil prices and typically stronger year-end demand in the world's most populous country will prompt importers to buy more soybeans, said traders and analysts.

 

"Strong crude oil prices, the overall inflation environment and rising (raw material) costs will continue to support soybean prices," said Liu Xinghua, an analyst at Great Wall Futures Co.

 

Although domestic soybean cash prices have surged to historical highs, they still have room to rise further, as farmers and traders are reluctant to sell, said analysts.

 

Farmers have only sold 40% of their soybeans so far this year, compared with 50% by this time last year, said Liu Peng, information manager at Longma Consultancy in Heilongjiang, a major soybean producing province.

 

Palm oil futures and soyoil futures settled mostly higher on high crude oil prices.

 

The benchmark May 2008 palm oil contract settled at RMB8,602/tonne, up RMB58 from Tuesday.

 

Total trading volume for all palm oil futures rose to 13,796 lots from 13,144 lots Tuesday.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB100 higher at RMB9,230/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures settled lower.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB13 lower at RMB3,398/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled higher on strong cash prices.

 

Corn industrial processing plants raised their purchase prices to attract volume, but the high prices kept feedmeal companies on the sidelines to wait for weaker prices during the current harvest season.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB13 higher at RMB1,736/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for all corn futures declined to 590,134 lots from 977,284 lots Tuesday.