Fall in soy futures

Beijing - Soybean oil futures in China fell for the first time in a week on Monday. The decline came on concerns that the government may be trying to curb recent price gains and ease inflation by selling more stockpiles of the cooking oil at cheaper prices.

China will auction 2,000 tons of soybean oil in the Beijing region on Friday, in addition to nationwide sales of 300,000 tons of rapeseed oil planned on Wednesday, the National Grain & Oil Trade Center said on Monday, without giving prices of the intended sales.

Soybean oil for May delivery fell as much as 2.6 percent to 8,868 yuan ($1,335) a ton on the Dalian Commodity Exchange before closing higher at 8,900 yuan on Monday. Last week, futures surged 6.7 percent, tracking a jump in the price of Chicago soybeans.