Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed higher on Friday's shortened session on follow-through technical buying, traders said.
Adding support was strong weekly export data reported by the US Agriculture Department before the open. January closed 8-1/2 cents higher at $7.66-1/2 per hundredweight, and March was up 7-1/2 at $7.92.
CBOT agricultural markets closed at noon CST (1800 GMT) following the US Thanksgiving holiday.
USDA reported on Friday that 95,700 tonnes of US rice were sold for exports last week, with nearly 50,000 tonnes of it long grain rices, milled and rough combined.
The total was 32 percent above the previous week and 24 percent higher than the four-week average. The report was delayed one day due to the holiday.