September 12, 2008

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle up ahead of bullish USDA report
    

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday on expectations of a bullish U.S. Department of Agriculture report tonight.

 

The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB61 or 1.5% higher at RMB4,065 a metric tonne after trading in a range of RMB4,026-RMB4,108/tonne.

 

The USDA is scheduled to release its crop report tonight, while analysts expect it will trim its estimate for U.S. soybean production following dry August weather.

 

The average of analysts' estimates for 2008-09 U.S. soybean production is 2.950 billion bushels, with a yield of 40.2 bushels per acre, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 21 analysts. In August, the USDA projected a crop size of 2.973 billion bushels, using a yield of 40.5 bushels per acre.

 

The dollar is correcting downward after its recent continuous rise, while the fall in crude oil prices has moderated with crude hovering slightly above the important US$100 a barrel support level, leaving limited room for commodities to fall, said Wang Lixia, an analyst at Green Futures.

 

Traders also trimmed their positions ahead of the long weekend, as the market will be closed Monday for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

 

Corn futures, soymeal futures and soyoil futures settled higher, but palm oil futures settled lower.

 

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

 

Contract         Settlement          Price         Change       Volume

Soybean          Jan 2009           4,065         Up  61        919,246

Corn              May 2009           1,780          Up   8        202,960

Soymeal         Jan 2009            3,446         Up  83        739,798

Palm Oil          Jan 2009            6,740         Dn  72        106,192

Soyoil             Jan 2009            8,522         Up  78        536,436