December 10, 2007

 

Monday: China soybean futures settle sharply up as CBOT hit new highs

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled sharply up Monday, as record highs on Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures Friday boosted sentiment, analysts said.

 

The benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled RMB72 higher at RMB4,422 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB4,380/tonne and RMB4,457/tonne.

 

"After CBOT soybean futures hit new highs Friday, speculative buying today drove (domestic futures) prices up," amid the expectation of further gains in CBOT, said Dong Liang, an analyst at Shanghai Jiuheng Futures.

 

Soymeal and soyoil futures also settled sharply up.

 

"Soymeal cash prices are relatively low, given the current soybean and soyoil prices, which means they have the potential to rise further as feed demand grows," said Li Honglei, an analyst at Nanhua Futures.

 

Chinese demand for feedmeal sees a seasonal pickup at the end of the year and usually begins to fall a month before Chinese New Year - in February this year, as hogs and poultry are slaughtered.

 

"Feed demand is going to rise further in the next couple of weeks, which means soymeal and soybean prices will continue being underpinned," Li said.

 

Corn futures settled up a tad on spillover strength from soy futures, analysts said.

 

However, given much larger stocks, corn will see greater pressure than soy futures to test higher, they said.

 

Monday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots:

 

                 Contract       Price       Change     Volume

Soybeans   Sep 2008      4,422      Up  72      935,496

Soymeal    May 2008      3,381      Up  80    1,224,908

Soyoil        May 2008      9,452      Up  46      103,358

Corn          May 2008      1,743      Up   8      521,644

Palm Oil     May 2008      8,518      Dn   2        22,014