April 12, 2006

 

Wednesday: China soybean futures settle slightly up on CBOT; corn down

 

 

Most soybean futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly higher Wednesday, on the heels of overnight gains in Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures, traders said.

 

The benchmark September 2006 soybean contract settled RMB10 higher at RMB2,591 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB2,585/tonne and RMB2,600/tonne.

 

Trading volume for all soybean contracts fell to 38,518 lots from 81,570 lots Tuesday.

 

One lot equals to 10 tonnes.

 

"Given the fundamentals, CBOT's rebound Tuesday is likely just technical and temporary," said Xu Yulan, an analyst at Yongan Futures Co.

 

"Moreover, our fundamentals are even worse than CBOT, considering the arrivals at the port...Few think bargain-hunting is a good idea," Xu said.

 

No. 2 soybean contracts, which are encouraged to be delivered with soybeans harvested from genetically modified crops, settled mixed.

 

The benchmark September contract rose RMB5 to settle at RMB2,488/tonne.

 

Soymeal futures settled mostly higher. The benchmark September 2006 soymeal contract rose RMB11 to settle at RMB2,199/tonne, after trading between RMB2,193/tonne and RMB2,210/tonne.

 

Total trading volume for soymeal futures fell to 231,102 lots from 315,380 lots Tuesday.

 

Meanwhile, soymeal prices in the spot market continued to fall, and were quoted around RMB2,120-RMB2,170/tonne.

 

Although China hasn't reported any bird flu cases in the past one and a half months, poultry raisers are still not keen to buy young poultry, analysts said.

 

Soyoil futures settled mixed, with the benchmark September 2006 soyoil contract settling at RMB5,029/tonne, up RMB6.

 

Corn futures settled slightly lower.

 

The most widely held September 2006 contract settled RMB4 lower at RMB1,369/tonne, after trading between RMB1,363/tonne and RMB1,375/tonne.