Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade slipped on Monday on a technical setback after last week's rally, traders said. May rice closed 9-1/2 cents lower at $7.28-1/2 per hundredweight and July settled 10 cents weaker at $7.47-1/2. The other months closed 9 cents lower. "There really wasn't any feature to the day's trade, except for light sell stops," said one rice trader.
Sell stops were triggered in May below $7.30 and in July below $7.50, traders said.
Commercial hedge pressure surfaced on the open, setting the weaker tone to the day's trade. The move came after rice rallied on Thursday and remained strong on Friday amid hopes of fresh US export business with Iraq.
Firms continued to roll May positions before the start of the futures delivery period at month's end.
The US Department of Agriculture said after the markets closed that the US rice crop was 22 percent planted as of Sunday, up from 14 percent the week before but behind the five-year pace of 34 percent.
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