Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed lower on Wednesday on follow-through technical selling amid a lack of fresh news, traders said. "It was just continued selling from yesterday," said one rice broker. The market was technically weak, falling below its 100-day average after penetrating its 20- and 50-day average on Tuesday.
January contract fell to a session low of $9.79, then managed to recover some. It settled at $9.85, down 8 cents but above its 100-day moving average of $9.83-1/2. The back months ended 2 to 7 cents weaker. Estimated volume was 423 futures and 30 options, up from the 659 futures that traded on Tuesday.
The market remained worried about export demand. US export sales are running 21 percent behind a year ago. The weekly world market price set by USDA was unchanged on Wednesday at $7.02 for long grain rough rice.
In global news, the China National Grain and Oils Information Center raised its estimate of the country's 2007 crop 3.4 percent to 187 million tonnes. In Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter, rice trade has grounded to a halt due the government export ban that remains in place indefinitely, traders said.
Last month, the government stopped all loading and banned new contracts on worries about the supply except for rice shipments at ports that arrived before November 12 and some sales contracted prior to November 12.
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