US rice creeps up

Rough rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade settled higher on Thursday after a seesaw session, rallying toward the closing bell on ideas the US Department of Agriculture might lower its estimate of US rice stocks on Friday, traders said.
CBOT May ended up 3 cents at $13.00 per cwt, but stayed inside of Wednesday's trading range. Back months up 3 to 5 cents; new-crop November up 5 cents at $12.89. Traders adding to long positions on ideas the market put in a bottom last week when the spot contract hit a nine-month low on continuous price charts.
Analysts estimated USDA on Friday might cut its estimate of 2009-10 long grain rice ending stocks by 4 million to 8 million cwt, from 22.3 million last month. USDA reported export sales of US rice last week at 36,400 tonnes, down 49 percent from previous week and 56 percent below the four-week average.