January 8, 2009
Thursday: China soy futures settle down on pressure from crude, CBOT
China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Thursday, pressured by the fall in Chicago Board of Trade and crude oil prices overnight.
The new benchmark September 2009 soybean contract settled RMB61 lower at RMB3,286 a metric tonne, or down 1.8%.
The May contract fell RMB84, or 2.4%, to RMB3,402/tonne.
The contract opened sharply lower due to weak sentiment following the big drop in crude oil and CBOT soy prices overnight.
"There is a signal that the recent rebound since last month is likely to conclude soon," said Wang Xiaoguang, an analyst at Galaxy Futures.
Declining open interest showed that both long position holders and short position holders were exiting the market.
Open interest in all soybean contracts fell 43,784 lots to 378,494 lots Thursday.
Trading volume declined to 906,088 lots from 1,367,458 lots Wednesday.
Analysts said the market may test its early December lows, which were around RMB2,670 for the September contract, once the recent rebound in commodities is fully spent.
Corn futures, soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures all settled lower.
The China National Grain and Oils Information Center said Thursday it has increased its 2008 crop year output estimates for corn and rice substantially.
The think tank hiked its corn output forecast by 9.5 million metric tonnes to 165.5 million tonnes on higher unit yields.
A bumper harvest and weak corn demand have been weighing on corn prices since the harvest in October.
Following are Thursday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne for benchmark contracts and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Sep 2009 3,286 Dn 61 906,088
Corn May 2009 1,540 Dn 3 341,612
Soymeal May 2009 2,572 Dn 77 477,872
Palm Oil May 2009 5,374 Dn 172 135,230
Soyoil May 2009 6,356 Dn 252 373,728
