Monday: China soy futures settle up marginally; awaiting USDA report

 

 

Soy futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled marginally higher Monday as traders remained cautious ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's supply and demand report to be issued tonneight.

 

The benchmark September 2010 soy contract settled RMB2 a metric tonne higher at RMB3,719/tonne.

 

The contract opened lower due to declines on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday, and consolidated within a tight RMB20 range during the session.

 

A higher-than-expected U.S. unemployment rate of 10.2% in October weighed on the commodities market, as it showed the U.S. economic recovery will be slow, Jiang Dongyi, a researcher with Galaxy Futures Co., said in a note Monday.

 

The market has largely priced in expectations that the U.S. Department of Agriculture monthly report due to be issued late Monday will include an upward revision of estimates of soy production to a fresh record high, analysts said.

 

If the report keeps the estimate unchanged or lowers it, it would be taken as favorable news, they said.

 

Trading volume of all soy contracts rose to 135,738 lots from 121,644 lots Friday.

 

Open interest fell 1,184 lots to 269,948 lots Monday.

 

Corn futures settled little changed and soymeal futures settled unchanged, while soyoil futures and palm oil futures settled marginally higher.

 

Following are 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

Soy         Sep 2010      3,719        Up        2       135,738

Corn       May 2010      1,733        Dn        1       48,176

Soymeal  May 2010      2,851        Unch             791,604

Palm Oil  May 2010      6,188        Up        12     167,900

Soyoil     May 2010      7,296        Up         4      550,996