Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed higher on Monday as the market continues its recovery from last week's fall to a 4-1/2 month low, traders said. Trade was exceptionally thin amid a lack of news, they added. March rice, which expires on Wednesday, closed 4 cents higher at $10.07 per hundredweight.
The more active May contract settled 2 cents up at $10.35, with the deferred months 2 to 10 cents up. An estimated 382 futures and 32 options traded, down from the 2,356 futures and 178 options. About half of Monday's volume was made in spreads, as firms rolled their May positions. Overhanging the market were lingering worries about US.
Rice exports, which lag a year ago by 22 percent. Global rice buyers have shied away from American rice since the discovery of a biotech gene material in the US supply last summer. Just last week the USDA announced it was in talks with Mexico, the No 1 buyer of US rice, regarding testing procedures and tolerance levels for genetically modified material after Mexico temporarily halted US rice imports amid GMO worries.