* Vietnam rates rise to $390-$400/tonne this week from
$365-$375
* More orders coming from Malaysia, Cuba, Africa-Vietnamese
trader
* Indian rupee falls to lowest in 16 months
* Bangladesh sets 'Boro' production target of 20 mln tonnes
By Sumita Layek
BENGALURU, March 5 (Reuters) - A supply crunch in drought
stricken Thailand pushed rice export prices to their highest in
6-1/2 years this week, while Vietnamese rates bounced back to a
more than one-year high on firm demand.
Thailand's benchmark 5% broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices
jumped to $460-$467 per tonne on Thursday, their highest since
August 2013, from $430-$452 last week.
"Most of the demand is from domestic buyers who are stocking
up rice amid fears of shortages," a Bangkok-based trader said.
The protracted drought in many rice producing areas caused
market concerns over possible supply shortages and is the main
reason for the price hike as overseas demand remained flat,
traders said.
The dry season, which usually starts in November and lasts
until April, could persist into June, the Thai government said.
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 rose to
$390-$400 on Thursday, their highest since December 2018, versus
$365-$375 a week earlier on strong demand.
"The Philippines remains the largest buyer, and we have seen
more orders coming in from Malaysia, Cuba and Africa," a trader
based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
Vietnam's rice exports in the first two months of this year
likely rose 11.5% from a year earlier to 811,000 tonnes, the
government's General Statistics Office said on Saturday.
"The strong demand has outpaced the rise in supplies as
local farmers are still harvesting rice from the winter-spring
crop," another trader in the city said, adding that farmers have
harvested 60%-70% of the crop.
Meanwhile, in top exporter India, rice export prices
extended losses due to weak demand and as rupee fell to the
lowest level in 16 months.
India's 5% broken parboiled variety rates RI-INBKN5-P1
inched lower to $367-$371 per tonne this week, from last
week's $369-$373.
"Weak rupee is allowing us to lower prices in dollar terms,
but still demand is not picking up," said an exporter based at
Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Weak rupee increases exporters margin from the overseas
sale.
Neighbouring Bangladesh has set a production target of 20
million tonnes for summer variety rice crop "Boro", for the
current year, a senior agriculture ministry official said.
Boro contributes more than half Bangladesh's typical annual
rice output of around 35 million tonnes.
In 2019, the country produced a record 20.4 million tonnes
of Boro, up from 19.6 million tonnes the previous year, the
agriculture ministry says.