July 25, 2008
Friday: China soybean futures settle higher on technical rebound
China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled slightly higher Friday on technical rebound, after their counterparts' decline on the Chicago Board of Trade slowed overnight.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB14 higher at RMB4,559 a metric tonne, or up 0.3%, after trading between RMB4,532-RMB4,584/tonne.
The downward momentum of CBOT soybeans abated, helping the short-term rebound on DCE, said Liu Xinghua, an analyst at Great Wall Futures Co.
November soybeans on the CBOT ended 11 cents lower at US$13.73 per bushel Thursday compared with a fall of 25 cents Wednesday.
However, analysts said there are no signs yet to suggest that the soybeans have touched bottom, although the contracts are likely to consolidate for a while before falling further.
Chinese importers booked two to three cargoes of soybeans this week, sharply lower than 15-17 cargoes last week, commodity consultancy firm Shanghai JCI said Friday.
The cargoes are to be delivered either in August or after September, it said in a report.
Soyoil futures and soymeal futures settled lower, while palm oil futures settled higher.
Corn futures settled mixed.
Although the market expected China to have a good corn harvest this year, futures rose supported by prices in the cash market.
Wang Xiaoguang, an analyst at Galaxy Futures, said he expects the benchmark January 2009 corn contract to be strongly supported at RMB1,850/tonne, after trading between RMB1,883-RMB1,893/tonne Friday.
Friday'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 4,559 Up 14 787,978
Corn Jan 2009 1,887 Up 3 220,216
Soymeal Jan 2009 3,716 Dn 29 862,686
Palm Oil Sep 2008 9,144 Up 108 21,828
Soyoil Jan 2009 10,310 Dn 26 223,656
