Friday: China soy futures settle up, track CBOT; imports may rise

 

 

Soy futures rose on the Dalian Commodity Exchange Friday, tracking stronger demand on the Chicago Board of Trade.

 

The benchmark May soy contract settled 0.7% up at RMB4,014 a metric tonne.

 

Soy futures on the CBOT ended higher Thursday amid strong demand and technical buying.

 

CBOT January soy ended 13 cents higher at US$10.47 a bushel, while March soy settled 13 1/2 cents higher at US$10.54 1/2.

 

Prices may come under pressure as imports are expected to rise in November through January, fueled by seasonally higher soymeal demand, said Tu Xuan, an analyst with Shanghai JC Intelligence Co.

 

While November soy imports are expected to reach 3.5 million-3.7 million tonnes, December imports could go up to 4.6-4.8 million tonnes before falling slightly to around 4 million tonnes in January, according to estimates, Tu said.

 

China imported 2.52 million tonnes of soy in October.

 

Trading volume for all soy contracts rose to 941,582 lots from 846,626 lots Thursday.

 

Open interest fell 14,030 lots to 443,628 lots.

 

Corn futures fell, but palm oil, soyoil and soymeal futures rose Friday on the Dalian exchange.

 

Friday's settlement prices in yuan a tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (one lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):

 

Product  Contract     Settlement Price Change     Volume

Soy        Sep 2010      4,014        Up    26        941,582

Corn       May 2010      1,781        Dn    4         103,126

Soymeal  Sep 2010      3,020        Up   14      1,929,140

Palm Oil  Sep 2010      6,882         Up   60        506,216

Soyoil     Sep 2010      7,886         Up   68       1,632,236