Commodities brokerage R.J. O'Brien sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture requesting it delay its monthly supply and demand report to give traders a chance to deal with fallout from MF Global's bankruptcy.

The brokerage asked the USDA to delay the report, scheduled to be released Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. EST, until Nov. 14, said Rich Feltes, R.J. O'Brien's senior vice president of research. The firm would have asked for a delay only until Friday, but federal offices are closed for Veterans Day, Feltes added.

The extra time is needed as traders seek to transfer accounts and recover money from MF Global, a large futures brokerage which filed for bankruptcy a week ago.

"They need more time to properly fund accounts that have that have been assigned to new (futures commission merchants)," Feltes said.

Delaying the report would be a rare step for the USDA. CME floor traders said they couldn't recall a delay in recent memory, aside from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

A CME Group (CME) spokesman said the exchange hasn't, at this stage, asked the USDA to delay Wednesday's report.

The monthly reports update supply and demand forecasts for a variety of agricultural commodities, and often cause significant price swings.

Feltes said the request was a long-shot, but said it was a step the USDA could take "to mitigate the aftershocks and the effects of bankruptcy on thousands of market participants."

-By Ian Berry, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4072; ian.berry@dowjones.com
(Andrew Johnson Jr. contributed to this report.)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 07, 2011 14:44 ET (19:44 GMT)
DJ RJ OBrien Asks USDA To Delay Monthly Report Due To MF Global Bankruptcy->copyright