Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade ended slightly lower Tuesday, recovering from an early sell-off when prices fell roughly 35 cents per hundredweight, traders said.
Early commercial selling by Man Financial attracted speculative selling, driving the market into sell-stops as prices slipped below its 20-, 50-, 100- and 200-day moving averages. The weakness attracted commercial buying, which helped the market recovery by the close, traders said.
July rice ended 3 cents lower at $10.57 per hundredweight. September closed unchanged at $10.94 and November settled 2 weaker at $11.22. The day's moves were technical with fundamental news quiet. Sell-stops were triggered in the November contract from $11.06 to $10.98.
Calyon was a featured spec seller of 300 September contracts, likely for a commodity fund. Estimated volume was 1,451 futures and 96 options. That compared to 1,097 futures and 95 options that traded Monday. Overhanging the market is weak demand for American rice due to a slow export pace this year.
But a shrinking global supplies and prospects for fewer US rice acres in the years ahead are supportive features. In export news, Costa Rica said late Monday it bought 30,551 tonnes of No 2 US rough rice at $304.22 per tonne to be delivered by July 28.
The US Agriculture Department will issue its updated acreage forecasts on Friday. Weekly crop condition ratings had little, if any impact on the market, traders said. USDA rated 74 percent of the crop good to excellent - unchanged from the week before in its weekly progress report issued on Monday.