September 24, 2008
Wednesday: China soybean futures settle down on CBOT, overnight crude fall
Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled lower Wednesday, in line with a fall on the Chicago Board of Trade and crude oil prices overnight.
The benchmark January 2009 soybean contract settled RMB29 lower at RMB4,020 a metric tonne after trading in a range of RMB3,985-RMB4,069/tonne.
CBOT soybeans fell back Tuesday after a two-session rebound in reaction to the U.S. government's bailout plan for the financial system, and local traders differ over whether the rebound has concluded for now, said Liu Xinghua, an analyst at Great Wall Futures Co.
The market is more focused on the U.S. financial crisis than supply and demand, and commodity markets may tumble anytime in the near term amid the uncertainties, said analysts.
There was some buying in the late session, helping to push soybean prices into positive territory.
The coming week-long National Day holiday also kept traders on the sidelines. China's financial markets will be closed from Sept. 29 through Oct. 5 for the holiday.
Fundamentals also don't support higher prices.
New domestic soybean supply from the ongoing autumn harvest and high soybean imports amid sluggish demand have pressured prices.
Open interest in all soybean contracts rose 21,984 lots to 453,440 lots Wednesday.
Corn futures, soymeal futures, soyoil futures and palm oil futures all settled lower.
Soybean processing plants have increased their sales volume of soyoil to make room for new soybean arrivals, but market demand remains weak on ample oilseed supply.
Wednesday'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
Soybeans Jan 2009 4,020 Dn 29 1,494,396
Corn May 2009 1,766 Dn 12 307,188
Soymeal Jan 2009 3,447 Dn 5 986,856
Palm Oil Jan 2009 6,330 Dn 124 167,038
Soyoil Jan 2009 8,156 Dn 202 719,550
