Rough rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade closed higher on Wednesday, reaching two-month highs on speculative buying by commodity funds, traders said. CBOT September rice settled up 8 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $7.00 per hundredweight, its highest close since June 27. November settled up 6-1/2 cents at $7.21-1/2.
Buy stops were hit in November at the bell. Reface Inc and Fimat Futures were featured buyers, with Man Financial a scale-up seller of November above $7.20.
Volume was on the heavy side, estimated by the exchange at 1,481 futures and 116 options. A contributing factor was the September/November spread, which actively traded at a carry of 21-1/2 to 23 cents, brokers said.
The US Department of Agriculture late on Tuesday said it left its weekly world market price for long grain rough rice unchanged at $5.70 per hundredweight.
In other rice news, the European Union set new import duties for rice from Thailand, the last trade deal that the bloc needed to reach with its four major suppliers of the staple commodity.
While the volume of this reference volume was not immediately clear, Thai media reports have suggested the level may be set at around 387,000 tonnes on an annual basis.