October 5, 1999 Dow Jones TOKYO -- The Nihon Keizai Shimbun was cited as reporting in its Tuesday evening edition that October futures contracts for imported soybeans are declining rapidly on Japan's four grain exchanges as food processing companies shift their purchases to soybeans that have not been genetically modified. The story says that domestic food firms began to shun GM produce after the Japanese government announced plans to require labeling of products made from GM crops beginning in April 2001. A market source was quoted as saying, "The futures market is swamped with sell orders for the October contract on U.S. soybeans harvested in 1998 because they are mixed with large amounts of GM products." Japanese traders are rapidly switching to imports of GM-free soybeans produced this year, which will arrive in Japan for delivery against the December and subsequent contracts.