REFILE-Asia Rice-India prices hit multi-month lows as buyers defer purchases

(Refiles removing erroneous text in first bullet point)
* India rates fall to $365-$370 a tonne from $368-$372
* Bangladesh to provide $354 million subsidy to farmers
* Thai rates narrow to $395-$400 a tonne on strong baht

By Sumita Layek
BENGALURU, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Demand for rice from top
exporter India was subdued as buyers delayed purchases despite a
dip in prices to four-month lows this week, while restricted
supply kept rates for the Vietnamese variety at their highest in
two months.
Prices for India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety
RI-INBKN5-P1 fell to $365-$370 per tonne from $368-$372 a week
ago.
"Asian and African buyers are not in a hurry. They are
postponing buying anticipating a further fall in prices," said
an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra
Pradesh.
India's rice exports in August fell 29% year-on-year to
644,249 tonnes due to weak demand from African countries for
non-basmati rice, among other factors. Its rice production from
the summer-sown crop in 2019 is expected to drop 1.7% from a
year ago to 100.35 million tonnes. Meanwhile, rates for Vietnam's benchmark 5% broken rice
RI-VNBKN5-P1 were unchanged from last week's $350 a tonne, a
two-month high.
"Demand is weak, but low supplies have helped keep prices
from falling," a trader based in the Mekong Delta province of An
Giang said.
However, there were concerns that a move by the Philippines
-- Vietnam's largest rice export market accounting for 36% of
total shipments -- to reduce imports could further hit the
Vietnamese market, another trader in Ho Chi Minh city said.
Sluggish demand pushed export prices for Vietnamese rice to
their lowest in nearly 12 years, at $325 per tonne, in
September.
A global economic slowdown has also been one of the factors
weighing on demand, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Agriculture and
Rural Development Phung Duc Tien told reporters this week.
In second biggest exporter Thailand, which has also been
grappling with slow demand and a strong baht, benchmark
5-percent broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices narrowed to
$395-$400 a tonne on Thursday from $396-$400 last week.
"Demand has been very small because of our high prices and
little else has changed," a Bangkok-based trader said.
Prices for the Thai variety have remained higher than
competitors due to the firm currency. THB=TH
"The continued strength of the baht has prevented exporters
quoting lower prices as the market anticipates further
strengthening of the currency," another trader said.
Meanwhile, farmers in Bangladesh, who have been struggling
with low prices and high harvesting costs, will receive a
subsidy of 30 billion taka ($354 million) to buy modern
agro-tools in an effort to minimise production costs and boost
domestic output, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said.
Dhaka has failed to clinch overseas deals for its rice since
a long-standing export ban was lifted in May, losing out to
cheaper grain from India and Thailand.

($1 = 84.6900 taka)