Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on Monday after a shortened session that featured light, lackluster trade before the Christmas holiday, traders said. CBOT markets closed early at noon CST for Christmas Eve. They reopen for electronic trade on Wednesday at 6 am.
January rice ended 7 cents lower at $13.48 per hundredweight. March closed 4-1/2 cents weaker at $13.83. Commercial selling pressured prices, which was met by speculative fund buying that brought the market off its low, traders said.
CBOT rice is hovering near all-time highs amid strong global demand for food and rising prices in Asia. That outlook has attracted speculative capital into the CBOT rice market. The latest trade data issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed that large speculators were long 7,548 CBOT rice contracts (futures/options combined) and short 12 lots as of December 18.