Rough rice futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended firm on Monday with spreading featured, traders said. March rice ended 3-1/2 cents firmer at $10.22 per hundredweight, with the back months steady to up 2 cents.
New-crop November closed 2 cents higher at $11.23 per cwt $1 premium to old-crop March. A lagging export pace looms over the old-crop contracts while the new-crop contracts are supported by ideas of fewer rice plantings this spring. Some of the moves in rice stemmed from the exercise of March options over the weekend, traders said. Firms were rolling March positions into the deferred months before first notice day on Wednesday. That helped March gain on May as RJ O'Brien was featured spreading March/May, traders said. March/May traded at 31 to 31-1/2 cents per cwt.
Spreading accounted for 65 percent of the futures volume estimated at 2,822 contracts. Options trade was pegged at 41 lots. That compared to Friday's trade of 2,325 futures and 95 options. In world news, Thailand, the world biggest rice exporter, sold 200,000 tonnes of white rice to Indonesia in a government-to-government deal.