November 28, 2007

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle down on weakening crude oil prices

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Wednesday on weakening crude oil and gold prices.

 

The benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled RMB49 lower at 4,380 a metric tonne.

 

Total trading volume rose to 740,688 lots from 417,552 lots Tuesday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

Soybean prices' recent surge was mainly supported by record high crude oil prices, while off its own fundamentals.

 

"Now that crude oil prices are cooling down, and the focus is returning to (supply and demand)," said Wang Xiaoguang, an analyst at Galaxy Futures, who expected 2007/08 soybean demand to be lower than in 2006/07 due to high prices.

 

Meanwhile, the falling freight fees also resulted in lower import costs.

 

Global inflation outlook has caused forecast of reduced consumption and slower economic growth, which pushed freight fees lower, said an analyst at Shanghai JCI, a grain consultancy firm.

 

Palm oil futures and soyoil futures settled mostly lower.

 

The benchmark May 2008 palm oil contract settled at RMB8,588/tonne, down RMB132/tonne from Monday.

 

Total trading volume for all palm oil futures rose to 24,282 lots from 19,046 lots Tuesday.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soyoil contract settled RMB120 lower at RMB9,342/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures settled lower.

 

The benchmark May 2008 soymeal contract settled RMB61 lower at RMB3,370/tonne.

 

Corn futures settled mostly lower.

 

The benchmark May 2008 contract settled RMB1 lower at RMB1,782/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for all corn futures rose to 1,189,012 lots from 902,126 lots Tuesday.