January 25, 2008

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle up on CBOT rise; palm oil surge

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday after their counterparts on the Chicago Board of Trade ended sharply up overnight.

 

The benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled CNY97 higher at 4,628 a metric ton.

 

The outlook for agricultural products isn't as bad as was earlier thought, after panic selling earlier this week, said Dong Shuangwei, an analyst at Capital Futures.

 

Analysts said the prices of essential commodities in China will remain at high levels in 2008, although any surge is unlikely to happen.

 

The government repeated it will take further measures to rein in domestic prices in 2008.

 

China will strictly control the development of corn's industrial use, and increase the market supply of essential commodities such as grain, meat and edible oils to stabilize prices, the National Development and Reform Commission said Friday.

 

China's control on corn exports and its industrial use, as well as high international corn prices will prevent the country from being a net corn importer this year, said Xu Xiaoqing, deputy director of Department for Rural Economic Development Research under the State Council's Development Research Center, Friday.

 

"The decrease in corn exports will help to rein in the fast rise in domestic (food) prices," he said.

 

Palm oil futures and soyoil futures settled sharply up on higher crude oil prices and soyoil prices overnight.

 

"Sentiment was boosted by CBOT soyoil's surge overnight, and the overall positive outlook for agricultural products points to a better outlook than other commodities, such as base metals," said an analyst in Shanghai.

 

Soymeal futures and corn futures also settled higher.

 

Friday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots (One lot is equivalent to 10 tons):

 

             Contract  Settlement Price    Change     Volume

 

Soybean   Sep 2008       4,628            Up   97      780,924

Corn         Sep 2008       1,738            Up   10      214,524

Soymeal   Sep 2008       3,270            Up   63      445,594

Palm Oil    May 2008       9,586            Up 328        17,522

Soyoil       May 2008     10,682            Up 314      334,188