Soybean Futures
Soybean futures are among the most popular and actively traded contracts in the global commodities market. Given the widespread utilization of soybeans across various industries, soybean futures contracts draw a diverse array of market participants, including producers, processors, traders, speculators, and end-users.
The liquidity and depth of the soybean futures market enable participants to effectively manage price risk, hedge against adverse price movements, and capitalize on market opportunities.
Various global exchanges, including the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), offer futures contracts for different forms of soybeans. These contracts include soybean futures, soybean meal futures, and soybean oil futures.
The Dalian Commodity Exchange, located in China, is renowned for offering soybean futures, catering particularly to the Asian market demand. Meanwhile, the Chicago Board of Trade, based in the United States, is a prominent venue for trading soybean futures, serving a global clientele.
Additionally, soybean futures also serve as a barometer for broader agricultural market sentiment and can influence price dynamics in related markets, such as other oilseed futures and grain futures.
This article aims to give updates of Soybean futures in the month of April.
Trading Soybean Futures and Options
Traders can trade various soybean futures and options from both the Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE China) and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) through Orient Futures International Singapore. This includes Soybeans, Soybean Meal and Soybean Oil Futures.
To trade Dalian Soybean Futures contracts (Soybean No.1 and 2), International traders would require an overseas intermediary like Orient Futures Singapore, through either the QFI China Scheme or the Internationalized products.
DCE Soybean Futures Contract Specification
The DCE Soybean Future Contract has the following specifications:
The DCE Soybean Futures Contract has a minimum price fluctuation of CNY 1/metric ton.
Contract months are January, March, May, July, September, and November.
The last trading day of the contract month is the 10th trading day of the delivery month.
Dalian Commodity Exchange trading hours are from Monday to Friday, at these trading hours:
9:00AM – 11:30AM and 1:30PM – 3:00PM Beijing Time
DCE Soybean Futures Ticker Symbol: A
Click to find out more on DCE trading hours, CBOT trading hours and also DCE and CBOT Soybean Contract Specifications.
Apart from Soybean Futures, both CBOT and DCE also offer other commodity futures such as Iron Ore Futures, Rough Rice Futures, and more.
Soybean Futures Market News
Understanding the latest Soybean Futures news is essential for traders to make informed decisions and stay ahead in the market. This latest soybean market news includes the different soybean futures prices, supply and demand. This information is based on Orient Futures Research Weekly Updates on the Fundamental Data of Agricultural Products dated 24th March 2024 and other cited sources.
DCE Soybean Futures
Soybean futures prices continue to rise, with limited correlation between the China domestic soybean spot and futures markets.
The spot market in Northeast China remains stable, with a slight increase in high-protein soybean prices, and increased purchasing support from main buyers providing some support to soybean prices.
Prices of soybeans in southern China are stable, with traders purchasing according to sales, but transactions are not ideal. Farmers still have grain sales demand before spring plowing, but demand has not substantially improved.
According to research by the Steel Union, 90% of sampled trading companies anticipate market volatility in the future, with only 4% being bullish. With a situation of ample supply, it is expected that the spot market will continue to run weakly, while futures prices may be influenced by spillover effects from international markets, showing relative strength.
DCE Soybean Meal
Although CNF premiums in Brazil have fallen, CBOT soybean futures are still fluctuating upward, and there is little change in the cost of imported soybeans domestically. In contrast, China’s domestic soybean meal futures prices are significantly stronger, leading oil mills to increase soybean purchases under the continuous improvement of crushing margins.
The National Grain Trading Center announced on its official website that it would auction 226,000 tons of imported soybeans on March 19th, but the market showed a strong performance. Considering the ample supply of international soybeans and the poor profitability of domestic breeding, from a purely market analysis perspective, it is believed that the continuous surge in soybean meal lacks fundamental basis.
China’s domestic soybean arrivals in March are low, but theoretical arrivals in April-May will rise to the highest level of the year, and port soybean stocks, oil mill soybean stocks, and soybean meal stocks are all higher than the same period last year and the five-year average.
It is reasonable for oil mills to support prices before a large number of imported soybeans arrive, and downstream enterprises to increase supplementary purchases during a rising price trend. However, these are ultimately short-term factors affecting prices.
The report shows that while questioning the rise, it is not recommended to go against the trend.
With many participants in the market, the influence of funds on prices cannot be ignored. Under the current market conditions, traders are recommended not to blindly chase the highs but rather focus more on risk warnings.
DCE Soybean Oil
In China’s domestic market, soybean oil prices first rose and then fell.
According to Mysteel’s survey of major oil plants in China, the soybean crushing volume last week was 1.5352 million tons, with a start-up rate of 44%, slightly lower than estimated.
It is expected that the operating rate of domestic oil plants will remain low this week, with an estimated crushing capacity of 1.5099 million tons and an operating rate of 43%. The overall operating level is not high.
On the demand side, domestic soybean oil trading volume continues to improve. On the inventory side, as of March 15th, China’s soybean oil inventory was 895,900 tons, a decrease of 1.95% compared to the previous month.
Looking ahead to the future, as a large number of soybeans will be supplied to the market in South American production areas in April, coupled with more soybeans arriving in China from April to May, domestic soybean supply will gradually recover, and the operating rate of oil plants may gradually increase.
If palm oil resumes production and cost-effectiveness gradually recover in the future, the partial demand for soybean oil to replace palm oil may disappear, and the price of soybean oil may be affected by the dual effects of cost reduction and supply increase.
Start Trading with Orient Futures Singapore
Being an Overseas Intermediary of Shanghai International Energy Exchange (INE), Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE), and Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE), when foreign clients participate in internationalised futures contracts in these Chinese markets with us, they have direct access to trading, clearing, and settlement. Our parent company, Shanghai Orient Futures, is the largest broker in terms of aggregated volume across the five regulated exchanges in China.
Orient Futures Singapore also currently holds memberships at the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Asia Pacific Exchange (APEX), and ICE Futures Singapore (ICE SG). Starting August 2023, corporate clients can also gain access to the B3 Exchange through us.
We provide bespoke services to our professional clients, tailored to their corporate and individual needs. Our team will be there for you 24 hours on trading days to provide a one-stop portal for all your trades, with simple processes and an intuitive user interface that has low or near-to-zero latency.
