India soybean ends up on demand, government steps

MUMBAI, Nov 21 (Reuters) - India soybean futures ended sharply up in a volatile trading session on Friday tracking federal government's steps to support edible oil prices and a spurt in spot demand from oilseed crushers, analysts said.

January rapeseed futures breached the initial upper circuit of 3 percent and ended up due to short-covering, analysts said.

"The sharp rise in the oilseed seems temporary and the rise, especially in rapeseed may not be sustainable due to good sowing," an analyst in Bonanza Commodity Brokers Ltd, said.

The government on Friday said sowing of rapeseed, the main winter-sown oilseed crop, rose 27.3 percent to 5.6 million hectares since Oct. 1. See[ID:nDEL002166]

"The buying in the spot was very good especially from the crushers," a large soybean trader in Indore said.

Spot prices in Indore, a hub for soybean trade in India, rose 1.69 percent to 15,000 rupees per tonne in the afternoon.

Early this week, government imposed a 20 percent import duty on crude soyoil and also allowed limited exports of edible oils.

A recovery in Malaysian palm oil futures also helped Indian prices. The decline in palm oil earlier on Friday had prompted local oilseed futures to open lower as well.

The benchmark palm oil February futures contract KPOc3 on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange ended down 0.54 percent at 1,460 ringgit a tonne. The contract had earlier fallen to a low of 1,386 ringgit.