Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed steady to lower on Tuesday in very thin volume, traders said. July rice ended 1 cent lower at $10.49 per hundredweight. Deferred months settled unchanged, with new-crop November at $11.11. A floor source estimated volume at 150 contracts.
The figure compares with Monday's official volume total of 376 rice futures. Commercial selling weighed on values, with Man Financial a light seller of July and November. But light local short covering underpinned values, traders said.
There were no deliveries for Tuesday on the expired may contract. An above average planting pace and improved weekly US crop condition ratings hung over the rice market.
The USDA late on Monday said the US rice crop was 86 percent planted and 68 percent emerged, ahead of the respective five-year averages of 82 percent and 66 percent. USDA said 73 percent of the crop was rated in good to excellent condition, up from 69 percent the previous week.
In world news, Russia has halted imports of rice from India after it claimed to have detected a banned pesticide in shipments, a minister told India's parliament. The outgoing chairman of the Tokyo Grain Exchange said the exchange would apply for a listing of rice futures again in the near future to expand the investor base and stop a further slump in liquidity.