Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade soared more than 25 cents to a 3-1/2 week top Thursday, gapping higher on the open in reaction to an impressive weekly export sales tally released by the government, traders said.
"There was buying off of a good export number. It pushed us into heavy buy stops that ladders up to the day's highs," one floor trader said. November rice closed 17 cents higher at $7.08 per hundredweight, after reaching a top of $7.18 in the session.
The deferred months settled 19 to 20 cents higher. The buy-stops were first hit at $6.96 in November. The heaviest stops were triggered from $6.97 to $7 and again from $7.04 to $7.07, traders said.
Another round of buy-stop orders were hit from $7.15-$7.18. "Each penny we had some level of buy-stops. We probably stopped out 400 orders on the open," the trader said.
The US Agriculture Department reported last week's rice sales at 171,100 tonnes, 92 percent above the previous week. The Philippines was the biggest buyer with 65,200 tonnes.
Export shipments of 95,500 tonnes was a marketing year high. There were no fresh rice sales to Iraq but it was the most active shipper, taking 38,200 tonnes.
That was a supportive factor as traders monitored Iraq's shipping pace after recent tenders. Some support stemmed from prospects that any remaining rice left on Arkansas fields could be damaged by fallout rains from Hurricane Rita, a Category 4 storm.
But there was uncertainty what path the storm would take once it strikes between the Houston area and Texas-Louisiana border on Saturday.
Rice harvest was virtually complete in Texas and Louisiana. But Arkansas still had about 30-40 percent of its crop to be harvested, traders estimated.
Buying was scattered among firms, including Man Financial, Fimat Futures and RJ O'Brien. Farmer hedges pressure surfaced as the market rallied, bringing it off the highs, traders said.
There were nine deliveries against the expired September contract on Thursday. The house account of ADM Investor Services stopped them.
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