December 7, 2007

 

Friday: China soybean futures settle up; corn down on government sales

 

 

Soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Friday as speculators took positive cues from Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures in Asian hours.

 

The benchmark September 2008 soybean contract settled RMB61 higher at RMB4,350 a metric tonne after trading between RMB4,292 and RMB4,386/tonne.

 

"With cash values lower than import prices now, speculative buying drove prices up in the session," said Liu Xinghua, an analyst at Great Wall Futures Co.

 

Although prices are at a record level and some people believe the government's policies to tame food prices will cap further gains, "we'll probably continue to track CBOT, if it's going to test higher," said Liu.

 

Soymeal and soyoil futures also settled higher on spillover strength from soybeans.

 

Corn futures settled a tad lower, weighed down by news that 500,000 tonnes of corn will be sold from state reserves in a first batch to tame high feedmeal prices.

 

The National Grain & Oil Trade Center said Friday the corn will be sold Dec. 11 in Guangdong, Fujian and Sichuan provinces, as well as the Guangxi autonneomous region and Shanghai.

 

Analysts said, however, strong demand will probably be able to absorb the supply soon, and futures will probably be weighed down due to psychological reasons.

 

Friday's settlement prices in yuan a metric tonne and volume for all contracts in lots:

 

                Contract        Price      Change     Volume

Soybeans  Sep 2008      4,350      Up  61     1,058,730

Soymeal    May 2008      3,301     Up  27     1,350,400

Soyoil       May 2008      9,406      Up 114      120,490

Corn         May 2008      1,735      Dn  11      533,650

Palm Oil    May 2008      8,520      Up  12       21,650