December 15, 2005

 

Thursday: China soybean futures settle mostly down on CBOT; corn down

 

 

Soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly lower Thursday, reversing a consecutive rise in the past four trading days after Chicago Board of Trade soybeans fell overnight.

 

The local market opened lower, tracking overnight losses in CBOT soybeans.

 

Despite some bargain-hunting and widespread short-covering, the local benchmark May 2006 soybean contract settled RMB16 lower at RMB2,662 a metric tonne.

 

It traded between RMB2,650/tonne and RMB2,671/tonne.

 

"The correction is expected, in view of the gains in the past several days," said Li Honglei, an analyst with Zhejiang Nanhua Futures.

 

Li added that the market has digested the good news that there haven't been any outbreaks of bird-flu in the country in recent weeks.

 

The local market had been mostly on a decline from mid October to the end of November on constant bird flu outbreaks.

 

"It is likely that the local market will consolidate in a narrow range in the following days on a lack of fresh leads," he said.

 

The total trading volume for soybean futures on the Dalian exchange fell to 274,918 lots from 438,238 lots Wednesday. One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

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

 

The most heavily traded No. 2 September 2006 soybean contract settled RMB22 lower at RMB2,628/tonne, after trading between RMB2,620/tonne and RMB2,638/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures traded on the exchange settled mostly lower, and trading of the benchmark May 2006 soymeal contract remained active.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soymeal contract lost RMB29 to settle at RMB2,285/tonne, after trading between RMB2,272/tonne and RMB2,295/tonne.

 

Corn futures traded on the exchange settled lower, mirroring trading in the soy market.

 

The most widely held September 2006 contract declined RMB7 to settle at RMB1,324/tonne, after trading between RMB1,318/tonne and RMB1,329/tonne.