Chinese commodities in sea of red as global rout spreads

Beijing

THE global rout in commodities spread to China, with futures for iron ore to coal to soybeans tumbling, as markets were gripped by inflation fears and authorities in Beijing continued to try to jawbone prices lower.

Chinese exchanges saw some brutal declines, particularly in ferrous markets, with iron ore dropping as much as 7.6 per cent and steel rebar falling 5.6 per cent . Coking coal, used to make steel, plunged 7.5 per cent, and soybeans slumped almost 3 per cent.