December 15, 2008
Monday: China soy futures up; soymeal prices lead gains on supply
China's soybean futures traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange settled higher Monday, led by strong gains in soymeal prices.
The benchmark May 2009 soybean contract settled RMB65 higher at RMB3,086/tonne, or up 2.2%.
Expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut output at a meeting Wednesday, and weather related uncertainty over production from south America were factors supporting the market, said analysts.
Soymeal futures led the gains as cash prices started to stabilize over the weekend amid tight supply.
Feedmeal processing plants were more willing to buy soymeal because their inventory levels were low, as they didn't build up enough stocks earlier on expectations of low demand.
Higher feedmeal demand ahead of the year-end holidays helped support prices, said Wang Xiaoguang, an analyst at Galaxy Futures.
He expected agricultural commodities to be nearing a bottom after plummeting recently on account of the ongoing financial crisis.
Open interest in all soybean contracts fell 17,140 lots to 518,772 lots Monday.
Trading volume rose to 841,004 lots from 796,054 lots Friday.
China imported 410,000 metric tonnes of soyoil in November, up 18.5% from a year earlier, according to preliminary data issued by the General Administration of Customs Monday.
The imports more than doubled compared with 202,370 tonnes shipped in October.
Tumbling global commodity prices increased the country's desire to boost imports despite weak domestic demand.
Corn futures, soymeal futures, palm oil futures and soyoil futures, all settled higher.
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 3,086 Up 65 841,004
Corn May 2009 1,484 Up 23 340,444
Soymeal May 2009 2,268 Up 74 506,604
Palm Oil May 2009 4,860 Up 56 169,340
Soyoil May 2009 5,892 Up 80 401,410