Import talk hits Indian wheat futures, soyaoil down

Indian wheat futures slipped on Wednesday on market talk the government is likely to allow grain imports, while soyaoil fell on strong arrivals, brokers said.
Gold prices rose tracking global markets and sugar was down on bumper crop prospects. By 0628 GMT, December wheat at the National Commodities and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) fell 2.20 rupees to 865 rupees per 100 kg. November wheat was down by a similar amount to 847.60 rupees.
"There is strong market talk that the government is going to import wheat in December or January," one Mumbai-based broker said. "Now the question is how much imports are going to take place."
The government has postponed it decision to open wheat imports but it will look at the issue at the month-end when sowing for the new crop is nearly complete, a leading trade official said on Tuesday.
The Food Ministry said on September 1 India had 11.3 million tonnes of wheat and 7.07 million tonnes of rice. Indians tend to consume about 1.5 million tonnes of wheat a month but consumption increases in the north in the winter months, beginning November.
Soyaoil futures fell because of strong arrivals in key producing central and western parts of the country.
November soyaoil at the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) fell 0.25 rupees to 348.80 rupees per 10 kg.
Sugar prices fell as the country is expecting a bumper output and cane crushing is picking up. The country's sugar production is expected to rebound to about 18.5 million tonnes in the year to September 2006 from around 13 million tonnes last year.
November sugar at the NCDEX fell 7 rupees to 1,849 rupees per 100 kg. The December contract was down 4 rupees to 1,816 rupees.
Indian gold futures rose as the yellow metal recovered from an early sell off in Asia to hold on to overnight gains heading into more active European trading.
But a rising US dollar against the euro threatened to unleash further bouts of selling outside the United States that have so far trimmed bullion prices by 4 percent since a mid-October spike to their highest in 18 years.
December gold at the MCX rose 18 rupees to 6,852 rupees per 10 grams. February gold was trading 20 rupees higher at 6,875 rupees.
Spot gold cost $462.20/95 an ounce, up from $461.20/462.00 in New York on Tuesday, when it rose more than $2.