RPT-Asia Rice-Thai export rates strengthen; Indian prices at four-month peak

(Repeats without change)
* Thailand could lose place as second-biggest rice exporter
* 2020 Thai rice export target lowest in seven years
* India rates rise on higher African demand
* Coronavirus epidemic dents Vietnamese sales

By Harshith Aranya
BENGALURU, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Local currency fluctuations
helped to increase the top end of the range for Thai rice export
prices this week while prices for leading exporter India rose to
a more than four-month peak.
The range for Thai benchmark 5% broken
rice RI-THBKN5-P1 widened on Thursday to $425-$447 a tonne
from $425-$439 the previous week.
"The baht has softened, but rice prices remain expensive and
this has deterred buyers," one Bangkok-based trader said.
A strong baht THB=TH resulted in 32.5% drop in rice
exports in 2019, the Thai Rice Exporters Association said this
week.
The currency, however, has weakened of late and touched a
more than seven-month low against the U.S. dollar on Feb. 7,
mainly hurt by the coronavirus outbreak in China. Traders said the prices of Thai varieties remain higher than
competitors because of the drought that has hit many
rice-growing regions and curbed production.
"There is a bullish feeling in the market that prices will
stay high and may even go up further," another Bangkok trader
said.
The exporters association set an export target of 7.5
million tonnes for 2020, the lowest in seven years, and noted
that Thailand could lose its place as the world's second-biggest
rice exporter. Meanwhile, prices for India's 5% broken parboiled variety
RI-INBKN5-P1 rose to their highest since late September at
$371-$376 a tonne, up from $370-$375 quoted last week.
"Demand has been trickling in from African countries," said
an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra
Pradesh.
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 stayed
flat from a week earlier at $355-$360, with the coronavirus
epidemic weighing on sales.
"Many of our clients have cancelled their trips to Vietnam
to check out the rice," said a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City.
The winter-spring harvest, meanwhile, is peaking and will
finish by the end of this month, traders said.
Customs data released this week showed Vietnam's rice
exports in January fell 4.6% from a year earlier to 410,855
tonnes.
Concern over the shrinking area for rice production because
of salinity keeps the prices from falling, traders said.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's rice output in the year to June hit
a record high of 37.2 million tonnes, according to preliminary
estimate from its statistics bureau.
"Our efforts are paying off," Agriculture Minister Abdur
Razzak told Reuters on Thursday, adding that the government was
providing subsidies to buy modern equipment to boost production
and minimise costs.