Chicago Board of Trade rice futures closed lower on Tuesday, slipping for the second straight day on a setback from Friday's rally, traders said.
May rice closed 7 cents lower at $8.40 per hundredweight, while the deferred months-closed 5 to 8 cents weaker.
The May contract has fallen 16 cents since on Friday when it closed 20 cents higher after USDA projected a sharp decline in US rice acreage. "The market is hemmed in by commercials buying at the lows and selling at the highs," one rice trader said.
Man Financial was the featured commercial player, traders said. Otherwise trade was lacklustre as the market continued to digest last week's news, including a large US long grain rough rice supply reported in USA's quarterly stocks report.
Firms were rolling May positions before the start of the delivery period at month's end.
The May/July spread traded at 29 to 28-1/2 cents, traders said. Futures volume was down from the past two sessions, estimated at 401 contracts. Options trade was estimated at 100 lots.
On Monday, 2,254 futures traded. But the session was shortened on Tuesday as the CBOT halted pit trading for 40 minutes, from 10:41 am CDT (1541 GMT) to 11:20 am CDT, due to a technical glitch.
The US Agriculture Department on Tuesday said it left the weekly world market price for long grain rough rice unchanged at $6.50 per cwt. USDA reported late on Monday that 11 percent of the US rice crop was seeded as of Sunday, up from the five-year average of 9 percent. Texas and Louisiana had the most planted, 58 percent and 40 percent respectively.
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