Last Updated on 23 July, 2024 by Trading System
Rough rice are trading through CME and their platform. Are you looking to get into the world of commodities trading and make the most of your investment? If so, then you should consider trading in rough rice futures. Rough rice futures trading provides investors with the opportunity to make a profit from the price movements of rough rice. This article will provide an introduction to rough rice futures trading, including its benefits and key strategies for success. From the basics of what rough rice is and how the futures markets work, to the various methods of analysis and strategies used by successful traders, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of what rough rice futures trading is all about. With the right information and guidance, you can make informed decisions that will lead to profitable trades and help you reach your investment goals.Rough rice, also known as paddy rice, is the whole rice grain as it’s gotten from the field — with the edible part still covered by the protective hull. The hull makes up about 20 percent of the rice grain and gives it a coarse texture. When the hull is removed, what is left is the brown rice, which can be further polished by removing the bran layer and the germ to get the white rice.
Rough rice futures market track the price of rough rice and trade on CME. Short term traders or hedgers who wish to gain exposure to the rough rice market will find that the futures contract is the best option on the market, compared to other available financial instruments.
Rice is regularly consumed by more than half of the people in the world, making it the most-consumed grain on the planet. But, at about 480 million metric tons per annum, rice ranks third in production scale, after corn and wheat.
Rough Rice Futures Contract Specifications
Major Uses of Rice
Rice is a very important commodity. Although about 95 percent of the world’s rice production is consumed by humans, rice is used in many other ways. Here are some of the major uses of rice:
Staple food: It is a staple in the diets of over three billion people from different parts of the world, including Asia, Africa, Southern America, and the Middle East.
Livestock feed: The bran and rice polish, which are by-products of milling, are used in making livestock feed.
Beverages: Broken rice is used in breweries to produce alcoholic beverages, such as rice milk and sake.
Biofuel: The hull and straw are used in the production of biofuels.
Fertilizer: By-products of rice milling can be used to manufacture fertilizer.
Industrial chemical: Hulls are used in the production of furfural, an industrial solvent.
Others: The straw is used for roof thatching and in making mats.
Where Is Rice Produced?
There are two main strains of rice — Japonica and Indica — and each grows in different climatic regions. The Indica strain is grown in tropical and subtropical regions, such as India, Southern China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, and Brazil. Japonica strains prefer the temperate regions, like Japan, Portugal, Italy, Spain, and the US.
While rice can grow in different parts of the world, most of the rice consumed all over the world are produced in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. The top 10 rice-producing countries are China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, Philippine, Brazil, and Japan. They account for more than 80 percent of the global rice supply.
These countries also consume a lot of rice and, in fact, depend on it as a staple food. Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan, and the Philippines barely produce enough for their domestic consumption, despite being in the top 10 producers.
How Is Rice Produced?
The six main stages involved in rice production are:
- Planting
- Harvesting
- Drying
- Hulling
- Milling
- Packaging
Planting: At this stage, rice plants are grown to produce the grains. The farmer prepares the soil by providing enough water supply and then soaks the rice seeds. Rice is typically planted in flooded fields.
Harvesting: Once the grains ripen, the farmer can drain the field and start harvesting. Rice normally matures in about three months after planting.
Drying: The harvested rough rice is dried to reduce the moisture content to about 20%. Drying can be done naturally under the sun or by the use of a machine.
Hulling: This is the stage where the hull is removed to produce brown rice. The brown rice contains the bran layer which is rich in vitamins and minerals.
Milling: White rice is produced from brown rice through milling. Here, the brownish outer bran layer is removed, and the grain is polished.
Packaging: Here, the rice is packaged and ready for use.
Why Trade Rough Rice Futures?
There are many reasons to trade in soft commodities, especially rough rice futures. It offers unique opportunities because the demand for it is rising due to the increasing global population. And, there may be a shortage of supply due to the effects of climate change. Apart from the potentials for growth, being a commodity, rough rice futures can be used for portfolio diversification and to hedge against inflation.
Increasing demand: Although North America’s and Europe’s population doesn’t grow that much, the global population is on the rise due to the high population growth rates in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Interestingly, rice is a staple food in these three regions, so their rising population will drive an increase in the demand for rice.
Shortage of supply: Because of the issue of climate change and global warming, there is a growing incidence of drought in different parts of the world, and this could affect rice production and supply. The implication is a potential rise in the price of rice.
Portfolio diversification: Traders and investors can add rough rice futures to their asset portfolios for diversification purposes because it doesn’t usually correlate with other asset classes.
Hedging against Inflation: As central banks continue the practice of lowering the interest rates to encourage borrowing and spending, commodity prices may increase due to rising inflation. Rough rice is one of the commodities that can be used to hedge against inflation.
Rough Rice Trading Strategies
Finding trading strategies in the rough rice futures market isn’t that easy. The market is not very liquid, which means that we pay quite a lot in slippage. As such, most trading strategies found in this market aren’t tradable when slippage costs are taken into consideration.
If you are interested in trading edges for the futures markets to build your own trading strategies, be sure to check out our edge membership!
1. Buy and Hold: This strategy involves buying a contract at a certain price and holding it until the price increases, allowing the investor to then sell the contract for a profit.
2. Momentum Trading: This strategy involves buying a contract when the price is increasing and selling it when the price is decreasing.
3. Spread Trading: This strategy involves buying one contract and selling another with the expectation that the spread between them will narrow.
4. Arbitrage: This strategy involves taking advantage of discrepancies between prices of the same commodity in different markets and buying the cheaper one and selling the more expensive one.
5. Scalping: This strategy involves buying and selling a contract quickly in order to take advantage of price movements.
Factors that Drive the Price of Rice
Many factors can affect the price of rough rice, and they include:
- Rice inventories
- Trade policies
- Demands in the top consuming countries
- Climatic condition
- Energy prices
Rice inventories: The dynamics of rice inventories in the biggest producing and consuming countries can have a significant effect on the price of rough rice.
Trade policies: Certain trade policies that affect the import and export of rice can have a huge impact on the price of rough rice. Trade wars between nations can also affect the prices of commodities, including rice.
Demands in the top consuming countries: Changing demands in the top consuming countries, especially China and India, will obviously affect the price of rough rice. While an increasing population may lead to more demand for rice, changes in consumer preferences may lead to a decline in demand.
Climatic condition: Rice is sensitive to water levels, so climatic conditions, like drought and heat, can affect the supply of rice. Changes in supply normally affect prices.
Energy prices: Rice production requires the use of energy-consuming machines for irrigation of the field, controlling water levels, drying grains, and milling. So, changes in crude oil prices can affect the price of rough rice.
Rough Rice Seasonality
Here is a chart that shows the seasonal tendencies of the rough rice market over 20 years.
Rough Rice Futures are a type of commodity futures contract for the delivery of rough rice. They are typically traded on a futures exchange and involve the exchange of a specified quantity and quality of rough rice for a predetermined price at a specified future date.
One of the key factors that drives the price of Rough Rice Futures is seasonality. Different parts of the world produce large amounts of rough rice at different times of the year. The demand and supply of rough rice in the market is highly influenced by the time of year when the crop is harvested. For example, in the United States, the largest producer of rough rice, the crop is typically harvested in the fall, between September and November. This means that the demand for and the price of Rough Rice Futures tend to peak in the fall as the supply of the commodity is at its highest.
What many people do not know about Rough Rice Futures is that the seasonality factor has an even greater impact on the price of the commodity than most other commodities. This is because the supply of rough rice is significantly more limited than other commodities, so the seasonal harvest is a major factor in determining the future price. Additionally, due to the limited supply of the commodity, the prices of Rough Rice Futures tend to be more volatile than other commodities. Therefore, it is important for traders to be aware of the seasonality factor when trading Rough Rice Futures.
Interesting about Rough rice futures
1. Rough Rice Futures are the most actively traded futures contract on the Chicago Board of Trade.
2. The average daily volume of Rough Rice Futures was over 10,000 contracts in 2020.
3. Rough Rice Futures prices tend to move inversely with the US Dollar.
4. Rough Rice Futures prices tend to move inversely with the Thailand Baht.
5. Rough Rice Futures prices are highly volatile and often depend on the weather conditions in the producing countries.
6. Rough Rice Futures are traded for a minimum of 20,000 pounds (9,072 kg) and a maximum of 200,000 pounds (90,720 kg).
7. The largest producer of Rough Rice Futures is the United States, followed by Vietnam, India and Thailand.
8. The most actively traded Rough Rice Futures contract is the January contract.
9. Rough Rice Futures are often used to hedge against currency risks.
10. Rough Rice Futures are traded in US cents per hundredweight (cwt).
11. The open interest of Rough Rice Futures is often used to gauge the market sentiment.
12. The price of Rough Rice Futures is often linked to the demand and supply of rice in the producing countries.
13. Rough Rice Futures are typically priced in US dollars, Canadian dollars, and Euros.
14. Rough Rice Futures prices are often influenced by political and economic events in the producing countries.
15. Rough Rice Futures are traded on the Chicago Board of Trade, the Kansas City Board of Trade, and the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.
16. The delivery period of Rough Rice Futures is typically three months.
17. There are no margin requirements for trading Rough Rice Futures.
18. Rough Rice Futures are typically used by large institutional investors and commercial entities.
19. The most actively traded Rough Rice Futures contract is the March contract.
20. Rough Rice Futures are often used to protect against price fluctuations in the spot market.
Rough Rice Futures Alternatives
You can play the rough rice market through any of the following ways:
- Rough rice futures contracts
- Options on rough rice futures
- Agribusiness stocks
- Agricultural exchange-traded funds
- CFDs on rough rice
Rough rice futures contracts: The commodity futures market is the easiest way to trade in the rough rice. Rough rice contracts trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Globex electronic platform, which gives traders from any part of the world access to the commodity market. CME’s rough rice contracts are settled by physical delivery on expiration, and the expiration months are usually January, March, May, July, September, and November.(See table in the article for more information)
Traders who are not interested in the physical asset can avoid it by rolling over their futures contracts before expiration. Apart from the CME, rough rice trades on a few other exchanges, including the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) of India.
Rough rice options: The options market is another easy way to trade rough rice. An options contract gives the buyer the right to buy or sell the security at the strike price on or before the expiration date. The CME offers options contracts on rough rice futures with different expiration dates.
Agribusiness stocks: Another way to gain exposure in the rough rice market is by investing in the stocks of companies that deal in rough rice. However, there is currently no company listed on the NYSE that deals exclusively in rough rice. Alternatively, one can buy the shares of allied agribusinesses that supply farmers with fertilizers, seeds, and pesticides.
Agricultural exchange-traded funds (ETFs): ETFs trade on the stock exchanges just like stocks. While there are no ETFs that track only rough rice prices, the ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity Agricultural ETN has rice as one of its holdings. There are other agricultural commodity ETFs, but they don’t have rice in their portfolio.
CFDs on rough rice: With rough rice CFDs, you can speculate on the changes in the price of rough rice without having to buy or sell the asset directly. There are many online CFD brokers that offer CFD trading on rough rice. However, we’re not very fond of CFDs since they tend to have quite large spreads.
Conclusion
Rice is the most consumed grain on the planet, being a staple food for more than half of the world’s population. The coarse harvested grain is called rough rice, and it is mainly produced and consumed in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. There are a few ways to gain exposure to the rough rice market, but rough rice futures is the easiest way to diversify portfolio.
FAQ
What is rough rice futures trading?
Rough rice futures trading involves buying or selling contracts for the future delivery of rough rice at a predetermined price. It provides an avenue for investors to profit from price movements in rough rice, which is a key commodity traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Rough rice production involves stages like planting, harvesting, drying, hulling, milling, and packaging.
What are some rough rice trading strategies?
Trading rough rice futures offers unique opportunities due to increasing global demand, potential supply shortages from climate change effects, and its use in portfolio diversification. It can also serve as a hedge against inflation. Trading strategies for rough rice futures include buy and hold, momentum trading, spread trading, arbitrage, and scalping. Each strategy aims to capitalize on different market conditions.
How does seasonality affect rough rice futures prices?
Rough rice futures prices are significantly influenced by seasonality, with the largest producer, the United States, harvesting the crop in the fall. This seasonal factor results in increased demand and price volatility during this period.