April 13, 2009

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Monday as their counterparts on the Chicago Board of Trade faced resistance.

 

The benchmark September 2009 soybean contract settled down RMB23 a metric tonne at RMB3,601/tonne.

 

U.S. soybeans face resistance around US$10 per bushel as there aren't many supportive factors such as drought, said Shen Enxian, an analyst at China International Futures Co.

 

CBOT May soybeans ended 1 cent higher at US$10.07 Thursday and November soybeans settled 6 cents higher.

 

As CBOT was closed Friday for the Good Friday holiday, there wasn't much trading guidance for domestic soybeans.

 

The RMB3,600-RMB3,700 area is the maximum range for domestic soybeans, prices of which are mostly supported by the government's purchases at RMB3,700/tonne, said another local analyst.

 

Prices will face more difficulties rising further at this level, she added.

 

Trading volume for all soybean contracts declined to 351,678 lots from 442,226 lots Friday.

 

Open interest rose 23,256 lots to 309,728 lots.

 

Corn futures settled little changed and soymeal futures settled lower, while soyoil futures and palm oil futures settled up.

 

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

 

Contract        Settlement       Price       Change        Volume

Soybean        Sep 2009        3,601        Dn   23       351,678

Corn             Sep 2009        1,695        Dn    1          67,516

Soymeal       Sep 2009         2,905        Dn    9     1,468,590

Palm Oil        Sep 2009         6,132        Up  188      448,416

Soyoil           Sep 2009         6,816        Up  144    1,204,506