May 28, 2008
Wednesday: China soybean futures settle down, along with CBOT fall
China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Wednesday, tracking a fall in the Chicago Board of Trade overnight.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB30 lower at RMB4,577 a metric tonne, or down 0.7%.
Soybean and soy products on the DCE were lower in light trading due to the tumble in crude oil overnight.
Crude oil prices have been guiding the performance of CBOT soybeans and will continue to lead their direction, Tianqi Futures said in a note.
But strong domestic soybean cash prices, a result of limited stocks, will support the old crop futures prices and limit the scope for decline, it said, adding the benchmark contracts are expected to trade in the RMB4,400-RMB4,600/tonne range in the near term.
Palm oil futures and soybean oil futures settled lower due to a supply pressure.
The harvest of rapeseed and slowing edible oil consumption, amid ample imports, have kept cash prices lower for the past few weeks.
A Ministry of Finance official said it hasn't received a reply from the State Council on the proposal to change commodity tariffs, although market talk had it that the Cabinet had voted down a cut in the soy oil import tariff.
Some analysts said even if the tariff cut is approved, traders are unlikely to increase their soy oil imports as the import prices will still be higher than domestic prices, given the high global soy oil prices.
Soymeal futures and corn futures also settled lower.
Wednesday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots (one lot is equivalent to 10 tonnes):
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybean Jan 2009 4,577 Dn 30 458,034
Corn Jan 2009 1,904 Dn 9 321,938
Soymeal Sep 2008 3,724 Dn 25 306,770
Palm Oil Sep 2008 10,580 Dn 100 17,772
Soyoil Sep 2008 11,284 Dn 174 227,152
