Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended slightly firmer on Friday underpinned by commercial buying, traders said.
Commercials took advantage of this week's weakness in the futures market to price grain. CBOT rice futures ended 1 to 5 cents per hundredweight higher. September closed a penny higher at $7.09 and November ended 1 cent up at $6.97.
But commodity funds returned as sellers on Friday amid weak technical and outlooks for a large US rice crop, traders said. Volume was on the lighter side estimated at 373 futures and 18 options. But futures trade was up from Thursday's 255 lots.
The USDA attached in Santo Domingo released a report on Friday that said Dominica was expected to import an unusually large amount of rice in the first half of this year after heavy rains damaged the Dominican rice crop.