Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed lower on Thursday on a disappointing weekly export sales tally, but prices kept within recent ranges amid thin volume, traders said. "There was just a lack of interest today. We've seen all these prices several times and have just run out of steam the market needs a catalyst," said one rice broker.
July rice traded within an 8-cent range before closing at the day's low of $9.18, down 8 cents. New-crop November settled 12 cents weaker at $9.54. About half of the day's volume was in the spreads amid commercial hedging moves, floor traders said. RJ O'Brien was featured spreading March-November at 40 cents, traders said. Volume was estimated at 603 futures and 127 options. That compared to 1,011 futures that traded on Thursday.
The US Agriculture Department reported that last week's old-crop rice sales of 4,800 tonnes were a marketing-year low. New-crop sales were at 10,400 tonnes. There were 21 July rice deliveries. The ADM house account issued 21 lots and an ADM customer stopped 21. This was the same trend that has occurred throughout the delivery period with the ADM house account posting the deliveries and an ADM customer stopping them.