Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed mixed on Monday in a thinly traded market, traders said. January rice ended unchanged at $9.87 per hundredweight. The back months closed 1-1/2 cent higher to 4 cents lower. Commercial buying by Man Financial was supportive but the volume was thin.
Estimated volume was 236 futures, compared to the 203 contracts traded on Friday another lightly traded session. There was little price reaction to last week's news that the United States Department of Agriculture approved a strain of genetically engineered rice whose discovery in commercial stocks this summer triggered a dispute about United States rice imported by the European Union and Japan.
United States rice exports have lagged this season, partially due to the discovery of LLRICE601 in the United States supply. The variety had not been approved for human consumption up until on Friday.