Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures ended slightly firmer on Thursday ahead of the holiday weekend, traders said. May rice closed 1 cent higher at $8.33 per hundredweight. The back months settled 1 to 2 cents higher.
But volume was light estimated at 256 futures, down from the 766 contracts that traded on Wednesday. Options trade was pegged at 68 lots.
CBOT markets will be closed for Good Friday and reopen with the electronic session on Sunday night. The market recovered from early weakness, finding technical support when the July contract failed to break below its session low of $8.56. That was a triple bottom on the daily charts. July ended up 1 cent at $8.63.
Early pressured stemmed from disappointing weekly export data, traders said. The US Agriculture Department reported on Thursday that last week's US rice export sales were 32,500 tonnes - 16 percent below the previous week and 50 percent under the four-week average.
Warm, dry weather across the southern United States and mid-South states this helped US farmers to get their rice crop planted.
As of Sunday, 22 percent of the US rice crop was planted. the US Agriculture Department said. That was up from 11 percent the week before.