Chicago Board of Trade rough rice futures closed firm on Thursday as late speculative buying by large commodity funds erased declines, traders said. CBOT rice closed 1 cent to 3 cents per cwt higher, with January up 3 cents at $7.18 and most-active March up 3 cents at $7.39. Reface Inc and RJ O'Brien were featured late buyers, traders said. Commodity fund Reface triggered a floor-wide rally late in the session, buying soyameal, soyaoil, corn and wheat, floor sources said.

Rice futures were pressured in the session when Man Financial sold March, and sell-stops were hit below $7.35, a floor source said. Commercial support in March at $7.30 halted the decline.

There were 50 deliveries on Thursday against the January rice contract, with 37 stopped by a customer of Man Financial and 13 by a customer of ADM Investor Services. The CBOT closed on Thursday and will remain closed on Friday in observance of the New Year's Day holiday.

Overnight export business was quiet. The government of South Korea said it finalised a deal to almost double its rice imports by 2014. Under the agreement with nine rice-exporting countries, including the United States, South Korean import quotas will gradually rise to 408,700 tonnes a year by 2014. Rice imports in 2005 will be 225,575 tonnes, up from a quota of 205,000 tonnes this year.

Copyright Reuters, 2005