December 12, 2007

Asia Grain Outlook on Wednesday: Soybean likely to rise, tracking CBOT

Soybean prices are likely to rise the rest of the week, tracking expected gains in Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures.

CBOT soybean futures climbed to new highs Tuesday on continued low supply in the U.S. and strong global demand.

Continued concerns over the impact of dry weather on South America's soybean crop are also adding to the bullishness.

In Asia, China continues to slow down on its soybean imports after frenzied booking of fresh soybean shipments in November in a bid to control spiraling edible oil prices.

November also was a strong month for import arrivals in China, with 3.34 million metric tonnes of soybeans landing in Chinese ports, up 42% on-year.

China's January-November soybean imports were up 8.1% on year at around 27.89 million tonnes.

In terms of fresh soybean bookings, Chinese buyers only bought four to five soybean cargoes in the week ended Dec. 7, compared with nine to 10 cargoes the previous week. Most soybean booked in the week ended Friday will be delivered in January and February.

In deals this week, Japan's Ministry of Agriculture is seeking 170,000 tonnes of imported wheat in a tender to be concluded Thursday.

Last Thursday, the Taiwan Flour Millers Association bought a total 77,500 tonnes of U.S. No.1 wheat from trading house Columbia Grains and United Harvest Ltd. at a price range of US$394-US$417/tonne, to be delivered between Jan. 28 and Feb. 26.