Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed firm on Friday, supported by speculative buying, traders said. The market remains technically strong with prices trading at two-year highs. September rice closed 11 cents higher at $9.83 per hundredweight.
November closed 10 cents up at $10.10. Buy-stops were hit near $10 in November, driving the contract to its high of $10.10 made at the close. Underpinning prices were concerns about smaller global rice supplies as China was experiencing its worse drought in 50 years, traders said.
Estimated volume was large at 1,494 futures and 147 options. That compared to 544 futures that traded on Thursday. Active September-November spreading helped boosted volume as firms were rolling out of their September positions before the start of the delivery period at month's end.