Chicago Board of Trade rice futures closed lower on Monday after a round of sell-stop orders were hit, traders said. Prices drifted lower the remainder of the day, reaching the lows late.
"We just coattail the other ages today. There's nothing going on in the world of rice that is causing any stimulation," said Gnomon Coleman, an analyst and rice broker with Briskly, Arkansas.
May rice ended 4 cents per hundredweight lower at $10.21. The back months closed 1 to 4-1/2 cents weaker. Lacklustre trade was also keeping volume light, estimated at 396 futures and 36 options.
CBOT soyabeans closed lower and corn mixed and significantly off its highs. Corn rallied on planting worries as frigid weekend temperatures in the Midwest stalled seeding, but retreated on updated forecasts that looked a little drier for next week improving the planting outlook.
The unseasonably cold temperatures not only blanketed the Midwest but also moved into the Delta rice region. The cold was expected to have caused little damage to any emerged rice, traders said.
USDA will issue its monthly supply-and-demand report on Tuesday. "Based upon the stocks figure the general expectation is that carry-over will be reduced about 1 or 2 million hundredweight," Coleman said.
The expected smaller US ending stocks number could be a reflection that last year's rice crop was smaller than previously estimated, traders said. USDA is currently projecting US 2006/07 ending stocks for rice at 30.9 million cwt. Planting of this year's US rice crop was moving along at a fast clip.
USDA reported late on Monday that 22 percent of the crop was seeded as of Sunday, compared with 16 percent for the five-year pace. In the top Rice State of Arkansas, 25 percent of the crop was seeded.
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