20000305CBOT rice ends mixed, commercials buy new crop

CHICAGO: Rough rice futures at the Chicago Board of Trade closed mixed on Friday, with commercial buying lifting new crop contracts.

CBOT rice settled 2 cents per hundredweight (cwt) higher to 3 cents lower, with May off 3 cents at $5.63.

"Rosenthal Collins was an outright buyer in the November contract," a CBOT trader, adding that the company bought 70 to 100 contracts of the new crop month.

He said Rosenthal Collins was also a light seller in the July contract late in the session. E D&F Man International was also a light seller in the May contract, he added.

In other news, the US Department of Agriculture on Friday said Colombia has rescinded import restrictions on US rice, effective immediately.

"This regulation change opens the Colombian market to US rice at a time when the country's domestic needs are increasing," said USDA administrator Richard Dunkle.

He said Colombia imported $74 million worth of US rice in 1998 before the market was restricted in November of that year.

Colombian officials began enforcing rigid requirements on rice imports from all countries after what was suspected to be the Thrips palmi insect was discovered in Colombia's main rice-producing region. The pest feeds on plant tissue and lays eggs in rice stalks, significantly reducing rice yields.

After investigations by both US and Colombian agriculture officials, they found no evidence of the pest in major US rice-growing areas.

Rice futures volume was estimated by the CBOT at 500 lots, compared with 504 contracts traded Thursday. -Reuters