Monday: China soy futures hit 2009 high on speculative fund moves

 

 

Soy futures hit a fresh 2009 high on the Dalian Commodity Exchange Monday, with speculative funds driving trade amid concern over the buildup of inflationary pressures.

 

The benchmark September soy contract settled 1.8% up at RMB4,085 a metric tonne.

 

The government's decision to increase the price for soy stockpile purchases has triggered more fund activity in futures, with some concern over inflationary pressures on soy prices creeping up in the months ahead, said Li Xiaoli of Beite Futures.

 

China started buying soy from northeast major producing areas last Tuesday at RMB3,740/tonne, higher than the RMB3,700/tonne it offered for last year's crop.

 

Traders are still focused on strong Chinese demand for U.S. soy imports.

 

Trading volume for all soy contracts rose to 1,229,530 lots from 941,582 lots Friday.

 

Open interest fell 2,270 lots to 441,358 lots.

 

Corn, palm oil, soyoil and soymeal futures also rose.

 

Monday'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      4,085        Up    71           1,229,530

Corn       May 2010      1,786       Up     5            134,402

Soymeal  Sep 2010      3,067       Up    47        2,744,612

Palm Oil   Sep 2010      7,104       Up   222         560,990

Soyoil      Sep 2010      8,132       Up   246       1,777,866