Chinese soyabean futures fall five percent

Chinese soyabean futures tumbled 5 percent on Monday, extending a decline that started in evening trade on Friday on talk of government measures to crack down on speculation, said analysts. The most active contract on the Dalian commodity exchange closed 4.99 percent lower at 3,734 yuan per tonne.
China has implemented a series of fee hikes in recent months to crack down on speculative trading it suspects is behind a surge in everything from coking coal to rubber futures, which helped drive capital out of the commodities market. The Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange doubled the transaction fees for trade in rapeseed meal futures to 6 yuan per lot last Friday. Talk that the government could take more measures to curb speculation led institutional investors to pull out of the market, sparking a sell-off in soyabean, soyameal and rapemeal futures, said analysts.