Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures ended higher on Thursday after setting a near six-year top and contract highs on speculative buying and talk of tightening US rice supplies, traders said.
"The USDA is going to have to bump up their (US 2003/04 rice) export projection in its May report," said one CBOT rice trader. "Shipments today were fine, and we've now shipped about what USDA forecast for the entire year," the trader added.
The 2003/04 marketing year for US rice ends on July 31. The US Department of Agriculture on Thursday reported net sales of US rice for the week ended April 22 at 56,100 tonnes, 28 percent below the week and 17 percent under the prior 4-week average.
However, weekly US rice shipments totalled 79,900 tonnes, 12 percent above the week and 19 percent over the prior 4-week average.
The USDA forecast on April 8 that 2003/04 US rice exports would total 99 million cwt, up from its March estimate of 96 million cwt. US 2003/04 rice ending stocks were seen at 21.9 million cwt, down from the USA's March estimate of 22.9 million cwt.
CBOT rough rice settled up 4 cents to 27 cents per cwt, with May up 27 cents at $10.88, after setting a near six-year high of $10.90 on continuous charts. July ended up 24-1/2 cents at $11.07-1/2, after setting a new contract high of $11.13.
Trade of the CBOT July/May rice spread was again active ahead of Friday's first notice day for CBOT May rice futures, with much of the trade at 22 to 24 cents per cwt, brokers said. They expected few deliveries to be posted on Friday against May rice.
There were 900 CBOT rice contracts registered with the exchange as of Wednesday night, while open interest before on Thursday's bell in CBOT May rice totalled 1,155 lots. CBOT rough rice estimated volume on Thursday was 777 contracts, compared with Wednesday's volume of 1,018 lots. Options trade totalled 199 lots.
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