US rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rallied late Friday, with new-crop November touching the 50-cent daily limit on fears that a cool weekend in key crop areas like Arkansas will hurt yields, traders said. Crop maturity in top rice state of Arkansas is behind due to a cool growing season. The weekend and early next week is forecast to be cool, traders said.
"The Louisiana and Texas harvests have been great at least for field yields. But we are not expecting that to happen in Arkansas and we really don't need this cold weather right now," said Jack Scoville, Price Futures Group analyst.
September rice ended 36 cents higher at $13.51 per hundredweight; November closed up 36-1/2 cents at $13.76, after soaring the 50-cent limit to $13.89-1/2. US rough rice stocks 24.7 million cwt, up 1 percent from a year ago - USDA. Traders expect moderate to heavy deliveries of 300-600 contracts against the September on Monday, first-notice day for deliveries.