Asia Rice-Rupee slide pushes India rates to 7-week low, Vietnamese exports dip

* Ongoing drought lifts Thai rice prices
* Dhaka rice farmers find support from government after
flood

By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri
BENGALURU, Aug 22 (Reuters) - A depreciating rupee pushed
export prices of rice from India to their lowest in seven weeks
on Thursday despite healthy demand from African countries, while
lower purchases from Philippines weighed on rates for the
Vietnamese grain.
Top exporter India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety
RI-INBKN5-P1 was quoted around $372-$375 per tonne this week,
down from $374-$377 a week ago.
"A falling rupee has been allowing us to lower export
prices. Demand has also been improving," said an exporter based
at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The Indian rupee INR=D4 on Thursday fell to its lowest in
over eight months, raising exporters' margins.
Farmers have planted rice on 30.14 million hectares as of
Aug. 16, against 33.84 million hectares at the same time last
year, government data showed.
India's rice exports in April-June dived 28.2% from a year
ago to 2.35 million tonnes. In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 eased to
$335-$340 a tonne from $335-$345 last week on weak demand.
Buyers from Philippines have reduced their purchases from
Vietnam while awaiting a possible curb on rice imports to
support local farmers, a Ho Chi Minh City-based trader said.
Preliminary data showed only 23,000 tonnes of rice is
scheduled to be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City ports during
September 1-10, bound for West Africa.
Meanwhile, Thailand's benchmark 5-percent broken
rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices were quoted at $415-$430 a tonne on
Thursday, slightly higher than $415-$425 last week.
Concern over shrinking supply due to the worst drought in a
decade, has pushed up Thai prices and prompted the government to
introduce new subsidies to help farmers during the main harvest
seasons for the remainder of this year. "The new subsidies will drive the export prices up in the
medium term because the market will now gain confidence that
domestic price will not go down since the prices are now
guaranteed by the government," a Bangkok-based trader said.
Overseas demand for Thai rice is expected to remain
unchanged with prices affected by fluctuations in the exchange
rate between the US dollar and baht, Asia's best performing
currency so far this year.
Bangladesh, still recovering from a crop-damaging flood in
July, will have its government help affected farmers and provide
free fertilizers and seeds for the next crop season, the
country's Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said.
Floods washed away crops that would have yielded nearly
400,000 tonnes of rice, agriculture ministry estimates show.