Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were lower on Friday, weighed down by bearish data in the US Department of Agriculture's acreage report, traders said. A breakdown in corn futures also weighed on values. As of 11:15 am CDT (1615 GMT), July rice was down 15 cents at $10.45 per hundredweight.
September was down 18 at $10.75 and November was down 17 at $11.06. Commodity funds were noted sellers, a trader said. Commercials traded both sides in September and bought November. USDA on Friday estimated US 2007 rice plantings at 2.744 million acres, above its March forecast of 2.644 million. Traders had anticipated a reduction from the March report.
The figure compared with US 2006-rice area of 2.838 million acres. Deliveries on the July rice contract on first notice day totalled 551 lots, below some trade estimates for up to 1,000. There was strong commercial stopping, with the ADM Investor Services house account taking 528 lots.