Rough rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade rose to one-month top on Wednesday, with July seeing its highest closing price since mid-March on follow-through speculative buying by commodity funds, traders said.
The market is trading above all key moving averages after this week's technical rally that began on Monday. July rice closed 8-1/2 cents higher at $10.83-1/2 rising 75 cents per hundredweight or 7 percent since on Friday. September ended 7 cents up at $11.18 and November was up 3 cents at $11.41. Volume was heavy, estimated by the CBOT at 3,557 futures and 64 options.
That compared to 3,457 futures and 35 options traded on Tuesday, another active session. Catkin Arbour was featured buying 400 July contracts, likely for a commodity fund, traders said. Commercial selling of 300 July contracts by Man Financial overhung prices but added to volume figures. RJ O'Brien also sold 150 July late.
Man was a featured spreader of 400 July/May. Little has changed with the fundamental market inputs, analysts and traders said. Ample nearby supplies overhang the July contract while outlooks for the US stockpile to shrink in the coming years as farmers plant rice remains supportive to new-crop months.
Additional support stems from tight global supplies amid rising Asian populations, traders said. The US Agriculture Department kept its weekly world market price for long grain rough rice at $7.57 per cwt. In export news, The Philippines, one of Asia's largest rice importers said on Wednesday it would buy its remaining requirement of 280,000 tonnes of rice this year from Vietnam.
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