Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed firm on Monday, supported by the government cutting its US ending stocks estimate, traders said.
"There was buying on the open after USDA decreased its carryout," one rice broker said. That lent support throughout the session but volume was on the lighter side, he said.
January rice closed 8-1/2 cents higher at $9.90-1/2 per hundredweight. The back months ended two to 8-1/2 cents firmer. An estimated 402 futures and 65 options traded, up from the 225 futures that traded on Frilly after this summer's discovery of genetically modified rice in the US supply.
"There was a lot of brown rice particularly that had been sold to Europe that had to be shipped back to the United States because of the GMO. We lost market, not gained market. So folks were surprised," said Gnomon Coleman, an analyst and rice broker from Briskly, Arkansas. Buying was scattered among commission houses, with Man Financial featured, traders said. Commercial activity was quiet.