What is Rapeseed?
Rapeseed is the seed of the rapeseed plant, that produces bright yellow rapeseed flowers.
What is Rapeseed Used For?
Rapeseed is a versatile crop that plays a crucial role in both global agriculture and various industries. This oilseed plant is primarily cultivated for its seeds, which are processed to extract rapeseed oil, while the remaining byproduct is used as rapeseed meal.
What is Rapeseed Oil?
Rapeseed oil, known for its high nutritional value and low levels of saturated fats, is used in cooking, food production, and as an ingredient in various products like margarine and salad dressings. Additionally, rapeseed oil has applications in industrial sectors, such as biofuels and lubricants.
What is Rapeseed Meal?
Rapeseed meal is a by-product obtained from the extraction of oil from rapeseed. With its high protein content and balanced amino acid profile, it is widely used as a feed ingredient for livestock, poultry, and aquaculture.
In recent years, rapeseed meal futures and Rapeseed Oil Futures contracts have gained prominence as an important tool for hedging and speculative trading. This article delves into the world of these two popular futures contracts from the Zhengzhou Commodities Exchange (ZCE) and provides insights into contract specifications, market news, and prices.
Trading Rapeseed Oil Futures and Rapeseed Meal Futures from ZCE
The Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) is a leading commodity exchange in China that offers many different futures and options contracts. These includes PTA Futures, Peanut Kernels Futures, and also Rapeseed Oil and Rapeseed Meal Futures.
These contracts provide market participants, including farmers, traders, and processors, with a platform to manage price risks and discover price trends.
Traders can trade Rapeseed Oil and Rapeseed Meal Futures Contracts from ZCE through Orient Futures International Singapore.
Orient Futures Singapore serves as an overseas intermediary for ZCE, providing clients with direct access to trading, clearing, and settlement in the Chinese markets. This can be achieved through either the China internationalized futures contracts or the QFI China Scheme.
ZCE Rapeseed Oil Futures Contract Specification
The ZCE Rapeseed Oil Futures Contract has the following specifications:
The ZCE Rapeseed Oil 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.
Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange trading hours are from Monday to Friday (except public holidays), at these trading hours:
9:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. (Beijing time)
ZCE Rapeseed Oil Futures symbol: OI
ZCE Rapeseed Meal Futures Contract Specification
The ZCE Rapeseed Meal Futures Contract has the following specifications:
The ZCE Rapeseed Meals 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.
ZCE trading hours are from Monday to Friday (except public holidays), at these trading hours:
9:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. 1:30 p.m.-3:00 p.m. (Beijing time)
ZCE Rapeseed Meal Futures symbol: RM
Rapeseed Market News
The growing popularity of Rapeseed Oil and Rapeseed Meal Futures can be attributed to their widespread global uses. Staying informed about the latest market news and prices of these commodities is essential. The information provided is sourced from the Orient Futures Agricultural Products Weekly Report dated 14th August 2023 and other sources.
Rapeseed Oil Supply & Demand
The spring rapeseed harvest in the northern hemisphere is advancing, narrowing the window for weather-related speculation, and providing clarity on potential new supply.
Recent Canada weather with widespread precipitation and stable temperatures has supported rapeseed maturation and yield potential, with further rain anticipated. Market expectations for Canadian rapeseed production range from 18.1 to 20.1 million tons. Meanwhile, impact of weather-related market factors has decreased due to weather conditions improving in US.
In China, East China's major oil plants have reached313,900 tons of rapeseed oil in inventory, higher by 1,200 tons from the previous week. This is relatively high compared to recent years.
Weekly rapeseed crushing at coastal plants is down to 41,000 tons, and nationwide imported rapeseed inventory rose by 92,000 tons, standing at 251,000 tons.
Increased import profitability is leading to higher import volumes for September to November, ensuring a relatively sufficient supply. However, seasonal factors like the back-to-school season and upcoming holidays could impact the demand due to seasonal improvement in oil consumption.
Despite fluctuations, the outlook for rapeseed oil remains weak considering palm oil and soybean oil fundamentals. Monitoring weather changes and shipment arrivals will be pivotal ahead.
Rapeseed Meal Supply & Demand
In the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the crop harvest is currently 4% complete, with the oilseed harvest just commencing, and the progress of the rapeseed harvest at 0.2%.
In Alberta, the rating for rapeseed's good-to-excellent condition remained relatively stable at 42%. The estimated yield is projected to be 32.2 bushels per acre, which is an improvement over 2021 but slightly lower than that of 2022.
In the Chinese market, it is anticipated that China's rapeseed imports for August will be approximately 310,000 tons, representing a significant decline compared to the first half of the year. Oil mill rapeseed inventory has increased to 251,000 tons, while rapeseed crushing volume has decreased to 41,000 tons.
Regarding demand, the price ratio of rapeseed meal to soybean meal has been expanding over the past month, rendering rapeseed meal more economically viable. Moreover, the anticipated surge in rapeseed meal demand during the peak aquaculture season has not translated into a substantial increase in its incorporation in formulations due to limited supply. This restraint aims to maintain the stability of the formulations.
The inventory of rapeseed meal is continuing to decrease, with 17,000 tons in oil mill rapeseed meal inventory and 15,600 tons in granulated rapeseed meal inventory in East China. This underscores an overall weak supply and demand scenario. In the absence of new driving factors, the trajectory of rapeseed meal prices is expected to closely mirror that of soybean meal.
Rapeseed Oil and Rapeseed Meal Prices
According to Barchart, Rapeseed Oil Futures price was at 8,984 RMB/ton on 13th September 2023, whereas Rapeseed Meal Futures price was at 3,475 RMB/ton.
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.
