RPT-Asia Rice-African demand boosts Vietnam rates, India prices dip to 4-month low

(Repeats Thursday's story with no changes to text)
* Thai prices narrow to $396-$400 a tonne from $396-$417
* India's exports in August fall 29% y/y
* Bangladesh reports bumper harvest

By Sumita Layek
BENGALURU, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Vietnamese rice export prices
rose to their highest in two months this week as demand from
African buyers increased, while prices in top exporter India
fell to a four-month low on sluggish demand.
Rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 in Vietnam rose to
$350 a tonne, matching early August's peak, from $330-$340 a
tonne a week ago.
"Demand seems to be recovering now with more vessels waiting
to be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City ports," a trader based in the
Mekong Delta province of An Giang said.
Preliminary data showed at least 70,600 tonnes of rice are
scheduled for loading at Ho Chi Minh City ports during October
1-20, with most bound for West Africa and Malaysia, traders
said.
Africa's demand for Vietnamese jasmine rice has increased
significantly recently, a Ho Chi Minh City-based trader said.
Customs data released on Thursday showed September rice
shipments from Vietnam fell 20.4% from August to 479,363 tonnes.
However, shipments in the January-September period rose 3.7%
from a year earlier to 5.06 million tonnes.
In contrast, softer demand from African countries for
India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1 saw
prices extend losses to touch their lowest level in nearly
four-months at $368-$372 per tonne from $369-$373 a week ago.
"African countries have ample inventories. They are not
active in the (Indian) market now," 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, government data showed. Weak demand also weighed on the Thai market, with benchmark
5-percent broken rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices narrowing to
$396-$400 a tonne from $396-$417 last week.
"It doesn't look like there will be fresh demand for Thai
rice in the short term, even well into next month," a
Bangkok-based trader said.
The baht THB=TH , Asia's best performing currency this
year, has been one of the main factors keeping prices of the
Thai variety higher than competitors.
"The market is expecting new supply after the end of the
rainy season this month," another Bangkok-based trader said.
Elsewhere, Bangladesh's rice output from the summer crop
also known as 'Boro', hit a record 20.4 million tonnes,
exceeding a target of 19.5 million tonnes, on higher acreage,
said Mizanur Rahman, a senior official of the Department of
Agriculture Extension.
However, the bumper harvest failed to cheer farmers who have
incurred huge losses this year from high production costs and
low domestic prices.
Boro usually contributes more than half of Bangladesh's
typical annual rice production of around 35 million tonnes.