November 22, 2007

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle up on high soyoil prices

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Thursday, as strong vegetable oil demand buoys soyoil prices.

 

The benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled RMB39 higher at RMB4,407 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume declined to 603,654 lots from 1,188,500 lots Wednesday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

China imported 278,627 tonnes of soyoil in October, up 87.2% from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said Thursday.

 

During the first 10 months, the country's soyoil imports surged 80.8% to 2.22 million tonnes, according to the Customs data.

 

China's vegetable oil prices are unlikely to fall back significantly because high crude oil prices make biofuel more economically viable, said Liu Xinhua, an analyst at Great Wall Futures Co.

 

China's palm oil imports also rose 13.5% on year in October to 485,484 tonnes, while imports from January to October rose 2.2% at 4.36 million tonnes.

 

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

 

The benchmark May 2008 palm oil contract settled at RMB8,748/tonne, up RMB146/tonne from Wednesday.

 

Total trading volume for all palm oil futures rose to 14,200 lots from 13,796 lots Wednesday.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB122 higher at RMB9,352/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures settled mostly higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB12 higher at RMB3,410/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled higher.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB29 higher at RMB1,765/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for all corn futures rose to 797,584 lots from 590,134 lots Wednesday.