RPT-Asia Rice-Indian export rates firm in muted holiday trade

(Repeats without change)
* India demand remains weak -exporter
* Vietnam 2019 rice exports likely to be up 2.5% from last
year
* Bangladesh crops brace for cold spell

By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri
BENGALURU, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Indian rice export prices edged
higher this week, buoyed by a stronger rupee and higher local
paddy prices, while trade remained thin in rival hubs because of
the holiday season.
Top exporter India's 5% broken parboiled variety
RI-INBKN5-P1 was quoted around $362-$366 a tonne, up from last
week's $360-$365.
The slight upturn was because of a strong rupee INR= ,
which trims exporters' margins from overseas sales, though
demand remains weak, said one exporter based at Kakinada in the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Last year New Delhi had raised the paddy rice purchase price
by 3.7% to 1,815 rupees per 100 kg for
the 2019/20 crop. In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 were
quoted at $360 a tonne on Thursday, little changed from last
week's $355-$360.
"Trade is very thin at the moment as inventory has run low
and many exporters are still on holiday," said a trader based in
Ho Chi Minh City.
"Farmers in the country's largest rice-growing area, the
Mekong Delta, are preparing land for the key winter-spring crop,
which is expected to peak by the end of February," he added.
No new deals were clinched in the past two weeks, apart from
those to fulfil signed contracts, another trader said.
Preliminary shipping data showed more than 100,000 tonnes of
rice is to be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City port between Jan. 1 and
Jan. 23, with most of it bound for West Africa, Iraq and South
Korea.
Vietnam's rice exports in 2019 are forecast to be up 2.5%
from a year earlier at 6.259 million tonnes, official data
showed last week. In Bangladesh, meanwhile, the rice crop could be hit by a
prolonged cold spell, said senior agriculture ministry official
Mizanur Rahman.
"The rice seedbeds are taking on a yellow tinge as sunlight
is failing to reach them on the ground due to thick fog. If it
persists for long, crops will be affected," he said.
Two cold spells hit the country over the past two weeks and
another is expected in a few days.
Thailand's rice-trading market was closed for most of the
week because of the New Year holidays.