CHICAGO, March 9: Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures ended higher on Friday on late local buying after a thinly traded session, traders said.

Rough rice futures ended up 2 to 8 cents, with March up 8 cents at $3.59 and May up 5-1/2 at $3.77-1/2 per hundredweight.

The late buying may have been short covering, but overall, trade was really slow today, one CBOT rice trader said. There was no trade in March/May.

There were 101 deliveries posted overnight against the expiring March rice contract with a customer of Iowa Grain stopping 66 lots. The last day assigned was March 7 while the last trading day for the March rice is March 19.

The US Department of Agriculture in its supply /demand reports released on Friday kept US 2001/02 rice production at a record 213 million cwt. Total 2001/02 ending rice stocks were boosted to 43.9 million cwt, up from February’s forecast of 42.9 million. The export projection held at 88 million cwt.

After Friday’s close, the CFTC Commitments of Traders combined futures and options data reported non-commercials long 266 CBOT rough rice futures, down 138, and short 1,511, up 524 lots, as of March 5.

Rough rice futures volume was pegged at 260 contracts, compared with the 466 traded Wednesday. Rice options volume was estimated at 190 lots.—Reuters