RPT-Asia Rice-India export rates gain as demand picks up

(Repeats Thursday's report with no changes to text)
* Vietnam prices quoted at $350-$352 per tonne
* Thai exporters hope new rice supply could lift prices
* Favourable weather to help Dhaka's Aman crop -official

By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri
BENGALURU, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Indian rice export prices
extended gains this week as demand ticked up and paddy prices on
the local market rose, while demand for Thai rice was still
being hurt by cheaper competitors.
Top exporter India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety
RI-INBKN5-P1 was quoted around $360-$365 per tonne this week,
up from last week's $358-$363.
"Paddy rice prices have been rising as farmers are demanding
the minimum support price," said an exporter based at Kakinada
in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
New Delhi earlier this year raised the paddy rice purchase
price by 3.7% to 1,815 rupees per 100 kg for the 2019/20 crop.
Demand for the Indian rice has been fairly subdued of late,
with export rates near multi-year lows. Rice exports in October
fell 42% year-on-year to 485,898 tonnes, government data showed,
due to weak demand from African countries for non-basmati rice.
Demand has been dull for Thailand's exports too, with prices
throughout the year significantly higher than those from main
competitor Vietnam, largely due to a strong local currency
THB=TH .
"Prices are already low for us, but still not low enough to
compete with Vietnam," said one Bangkok-based trader.
Thailand's 5% broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 was quoted at
$395-$420 a tonne, on a free on board basis, compared with
$397-$411 last week.
Farmers are harvesting new season rice and exporters hope
the new supply could help lower prices in the near future.
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 were
quoted at $350-$352 a tonne on Thursday, compared with $350 a
week earlier.
"Demand from the Philippines is increasing, but domestic
supplies are running low," a trader based in An Giang province
said.
"We expect prices to edge up further until supplies from the
winter-spring crop are available from late January and early
February," he said.
In Bangladesh, the rain-fed rice output or Aman crop is
expected to exceed the 14 million tonne target for this year,
helped by favourable weather, a senior official at the
agriculture ministry said.
Aman, the second biggest rice crop after summer variety
Boro, makes up just under 40% of Bangladesh's total rice
production of around 35 million tonnes.
Fears that Cyclone Bulbul that ripped through coastal areas
of Bangladesh and eastern India last month could cause havoc,
were unfounded, the official added.