China said last week it may implement controls on necessary items including those used to make food to curb inflation that reached a two-year high in October. Food costs jumped 10.1 percent that month, according to statistics bureau data. China also may sell from government stockpiles to slow rising prices, farm adviser Agritel said in a report.
“The oilseed market remains uncertain, with an unfavorable economy in the short term, related to the situation in China,” Paris-based Agritel said. “Chinese authorities are planning to sell basic products such as oilseeds and cereals on the domestic market, coming from national stocks to limit the increase.”
Prices also dropped as the dollar strengthened, making U.S. crops more expensive in terms of other monies, after North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire. The U.S. Dollar Index, a six-currency gauge of the greenback’s strength, added as much as 0.7 percent.
Soybeans for January delivery fell 2.25 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $12.1925 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 1:14 p.m. London time, wiping out a climb of as much as 2 percent. The oilseed is down 1.4 percent this month, partly on speculation Chinese demand will wane.
Corn for March delivery dropped 4.5 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $5.2475 a bushel. The grain has plunged 9.8 percent since the end of October.
March-delivery wheat slid 3.5 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $6.81 a bushel. The grain has lost 5.1 percent this month on speculation global stockpiles will outweigh declining output in Russia and Ukraine. Milling wheat for January delivery traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris gained 0.5 percent to 212 euros ($285.83) a metric ton.
South Korea returned fire and scrambled fighter jets after North Korean artillery killed two soldiers on an island near the countries’ border.
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