US rough rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended mixed on Tuesday, with the nearby spread pressured by traders exiting March positions before futures deliveries begin on Friday, traders said. Underpinning rice was a higher close in other CBOT grain markets amid a bounce in the Dow industrials.
March rice ended 8 cents lower at $12 per hundredweight while May closed 3 up at $12.11. Volume was moderate estimated at 943 futures and 55 options. Most of it was made in the March-May spread as 386 spreads traded. Thai government keeps rice subsidies, but at cost of exports.