November 3, 2008

                        

Monday: China soybean futures settle up; soyoil cash leads the way

                                     

 

China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Monday, supported by sharply higher soyoil prices.

 

The benchmark May 2009 soybean contract settled RMB65, or 2%, higher at RMB3,389/tonne.

 

Soyoil cash prices jumped by RMB100-RMB300/tonne in north and east China Monday from last Friday, as processing plants don't have much stocks, said traders.

 

Processing plants are pushing cash soyoil prices up to cover earlier losses, said a local trader, adding that soyoil futures prices are making up ground lost to rapid soybean futures price gains.

 

Higher prices in electronic trading at the Chicago Board of Trade during Asian trading hours also helped DCE prices, analysts said.

 

Open interest in all soybean contracts rose 11,720 lots to 588,330 lots Monday.

 

Trading volume rose to 1,300,034 lots from 1,097,856 lots Friday.

 

Corn futures settled lower, but soyoil and palm oil futures settled sharply higher, with the benchmark contracts hitting limit-up during the session.

 

There are signs that cash corn prices are stabilizing after an earlier decline and there is limited room for any further fall before the arrival of new corn, said Tianqi Futures in its note.

 

Soymeal futures settled mixed, but the benchmark contract settled lower.

 

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

 

Contract         Settlement       Price        Change       Volume

Soybean         May 2009        3,389        Up   65     1,300,034

Corn              May 2009         1,647        Dn   11       162,220

Soymeal         May 2009         2,691        Dn    2       859,816

Palm Oil          Jan 2009          4,678        Up  166       53,352

Soyoil             Jan 2009          6,624        Up  252      348,158