* Indian prices rise to $374-$377/T vs $371-$374/T last week
* Thai prices slip to $390-$404/T vs $395-$413/T last week
* Bangladesh to buy 400,000 tonnes at $307.73/T to support
farmers
By Eileen Soreng
BENGALURU, July 11 (Reuters) - Rice export prices in India
extended gains this week helped by a stronger rupee, while
expectations of fresh supplies entering the market weighed on
Thai rates along with muted demand across major paddy-growing
countries.
Thailand's benchmark 5-percent broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1
prices were quoted at $390-$404 a tonne on Thursday, free on
board Bangkok (FOB), down from $395-$413 last week.
"The new crop is expected to start entering the market next
month and this has driven the price down a little but the strong
baht also means that the export price remains strong overall," a
Bangkok-based rice trader said.
Demand for Thai rice has remained flat as the local currency
strengthened THB=TH , traders added.
Thailand's rice exports fell by 12% in the first half of
2019, hurt by the stronger baht, and will likely fall short of
this year's target of 9.5 million tonnes, an exporter group said
on Wednesday. Thailand shipped 4.2 million tonnes of rice between January
and June with orders in the last two months falling to as low as
600,000 tonnes per month, according to the Thai Rice Exporters
Association.
For top rice exporter India, prices of the 5 percent broken
parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1 were quoted around $374-$377
per tonne this week, up from last week's $371-$374.
The Indian rupee INR=D4 on Thursday rose to its highest
level in 11-months, trimming exporters returns from overseas
sales.
"For white rice demand is negligible. There's modest demand
for parboiled from African buyers," said B V Krishna Rao,
president of the Rice Exporters Association (REA).
The Indian government has also raised the price at which it
will buy new-season common rice varieties from local farmers by
3.7 percent. Meanwhile, neighbouring Bangladesh will procure 400,000
tonnes of paddy at 26,000 taka or $307.73 a tonne during the
current harvesting season to support local farmers reeling under
declining domestic prices, food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar
said.
Market insiders, however, said the move would not benefit
most growers in dire need of cash, since they were compelled to
sell their crop at much cheaper rates to millers or middlemen.
Bangladesh has also been unable to clinch deals since its
ban on rice exports was lifted in May.
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 rose to
$335-$340 a tonne from $330-$335 last week, as traders looked to
increase profits, merchants said.
"Demand for 5% broken rice has been lacklustre this week," a
trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. "We have received orders
for fragrant rice only."
Preliminary data showed nearly 60,000 tonnes of rice is to
be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City ports during the July 1-16 period,
compared with 311,700 tonnes in June, another trader said.
Most of the new shipments were headed to Iraq, Malaysia and
West Africa, the trader added.
($1=84.49 taka)