September 10, 2008
Wednesday: China soybean futures settle mostly up, tracking CBOT gains
Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled mostly up Wednesday on gains in Chicago Board of Trade soybeans overnight.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB7 higher at RMB4,033 a metric tonne, after trading between RMB3,989/tonne and RMB4,058/tonne.
"The rebound today was large due to the gains in CBOT soybeans last night, and it's likely to consolidate around RMB4,000/tonne in the rest of the week," said a trader.
The China National Grain and Oils Information Center in its monthly report Wednesday kept its output forecast for soybean in 2008 unchanged from its previous report.
The country's soybean output is expected to rise 37% from last year to 17.5 million tonnes, with acreage rising 11% on year to 9.65 million hectares.
China's customs department also said August soybean imports totaled 3.83 million tonnes. It didn't provide the on-year change for the month alone, but said January-August imports rose 24% on year to 24.56 million tonnes.
The domestic markets have been relatively quiet for the time being, so in the short term the DCE prices likely to track the CBOT or be affected by other commodity markets, said the trader.
Soybean meal futures settled mostly up, along with gains of soybean, but soybean oil futures settled mostly down, weighed by losses in CBOT soy oil overnight.
Corn futures settled up slightly. Data provided by the customs department showed the country's corn exports fell 87% on year in the January-August period to 30,000 tonnes.
Contract Settlement Price Change Volume
Soybeans Jan 2009 4,033 Up 7 1,067,422
Corn May 2009 1,776 Up 7 284,958
Soy Meal Jan 2009 3,388 Up 27 881,344
Palm Oil Jan 2009 6,832 Dn 146 82,654
Soy Oil Jan 2009 8,406 Dn 36 638,166
