December 9, 2005

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle higher on CBOT gains; corn up

 

 

Soybean futures traded on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday, mostly on short-covering ahead of the weekend after Chicago Board of Trade soybeans climbed overnight.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soybean contract gained RMB32 to settle at RMB2,583 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,568/tonne and RMB2,597/tonne.

 

The total trading volume for soybean futures on the Dalian exchange rose to 291,910 lots from 202,520 lots Thursday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

The overnight gains on CBOT, as well as no reports of bird flu outbreaks, "triggered some buying," said a Beijing-based analyst with a futures trading company.

 

China hasn't reported any new outbreaks of bird flu in poultry since Thursday last week. Before that, 25 outbreaks of bird flu were reported across the country since October, which hurt the domestic soy and corn markets.

 

"No news (of bird flu) is good news," the analyst said. "But we have to look for more cues, such as the upcoming USDA reports, to determine whether the rebound can be maintained next week."

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to report its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand estimates later Friday.

 

Most of Dalian's No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically-modified crops but are seldom traded, settled higher.

 

The most heavily traded No. 2 September 2006 soybean contract settled RMB13 lower at RMB2,568/tonne, after trading between RMB2,560/tonne and RMB2,576/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures traded on the exchange settled higher, mostly on fresh speculative buying.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soymeal contract rose RMB34 to settle at RMB2,199/tonne, after trading between RMB2,178/tonne and RMB2,215/tonne.

 

Corn futures traded on the exchange settled higher, supported by gains in the soy market.

 

The most widely held September 2006 contract gained RMB9 to settle at RMB1,317/tonne, after trading between RMB1,309/tonne and RMB1,323/tonne.