December 21, 2005

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle lower on CBOT; corn down

 

 

Soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Wednesday after Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures fell overnight.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soybean contract settled RMB28 lower at RMB2,720 a metric tonne after trading between RMB2,694/tonne and RMB2,747/tonne.

 

The total trading volume rose to 373,130 lots from 368,912 lots Tuesday.

 

One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes.

 

The correction was expected following gains in soybean futures for almost a week, said Xu Lixin, an analyst with Jingyi Futures.

 

Xu said high stock levels continue to weigh on soybean futures.

 

"The market will continue to consolidate lower, rather than rise on a bullish trend as some speculators have said," he said.

 

Soymeal futures on the Dalian exchange settled sharply lower Wednesday, with another high trading volume of 928,444, near Monday's record high of 957,900.

 

The benchmark May 2006 soymeal futures contract settled RMB43 lower at RMB2,338/tonne after trading between RMB2,301/tonne and RMB2,372/tonne.

 

"The high trading volume won't be maintained for long," Xu said.

 

"With more short-term speculators rushing to the market at the end of the year, which is usually the case, the market can fluctuate wildly," said Li Jun, an analyst with Tonneglian Futures.

 

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 September 2006 No. 2 soybean contract settled RMB23 lower at RMB2,658/tonne, after trading between RMB2,640/tonne and RMB2,666/tonne.

 

Corn futures traded on the exchange also settled lower, in tandem with soy futures.

 

The most widely held September 2006 contract settled RMB5 lower at RMB1,342/tonne, after trading between RMB1,338/tonne and RMB1,351/tonne.