Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures settled higher on Wednesday on speculative buying, traders said.
"Commercials traded both sides, and there was widely scattered speculative buying," one CBOT rice trader said.
CBOT rough rice settled up 10 to 15 cents per cwt, with March up 13 cents at $8.85 and May up 12-1/2 cents at $9.06 per cwt after hitting a six-week top of $9.08 per cwt.
Man Financial traded both sides, while Cargill Investor Services was a scale-up seller of March, traders said.
Rolling of nearby March rice positions before on Friday's first notice day continued, with the March/May spread trading between 20-1/2 and 21 cents, traders said.
Registrations late on Tuesday totalled 728 contracts, unchanged from the previous tally.
CBOT traders expected deliveries against March on Friday to range from 400 to 600 lots. Registration of a contract does not mandate delivery.
CBOT rough rice estimated volume on Wednesday was 1,185 contracts, compared with Tuesday's volume of 2,536 lots, while options trade was 99 contracts.