RPT-Asia Rice-Indian prices recover slightly; harvest boosts Vietnamese stocks

(Repeats May 23 story without any changes to text)
* Bangladesh raises import duty to 55% from 28%
* New duty to impede Indian exports to Bangladesh, say
traders
* Thai rates unchanged at $385-$400 a tonne
* Iraq signed contract to buy 150,000 tonnes from Vietnam-
trader

By Diptendu Lahiri
BENGALURU, May 23 (Reuters) - A stronger rupee helped lift
rice export prices in top exporter India from a near seven-month
low this week, while rates for the Vietnamese variety slipped as
the harvest in the Mekong Delta gathered steam.
India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1
was quoted around $364-$367 per tonne, up from last week's
$362-$365.
Demand was subdued but exporters were forced to raise prices
due to the stronger currency INR=IN , said an exporter based at
Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
A strong rupee reduces exporters' margin from overseas
sales.
India's neighbour Bangladesh raised import duty on the
staple to 55% from 28%, officials said on Thursday, amid
widespread protests by farmers over a drastic dip in domestic
rates.
The duty hike, which came into effect on Wednesday, will
make it nearly impossible for India to export rice to
Bangladesh, traders in India said.
Bangladesh emerged as the biggest buyer of Indian rice in
2017 after floods destroyed its crop, but the country now has a
surplus of between 2 million and 2.5 million tonnes of rice, a
Bangladeshi food ministry official said.
Bangladesh is planning to export surplus rice for the first
time since banning overseas selling of some common rice
varieties in May 2008 when there was a spike in domestic prices.
It banned all rice exports a year later.
In Vietnam, rates for benchmark 5 percent broken rice
RI-VNBKN5-P1 fell to $350 a tonne on Thursday, from $355 last
week.
"Prices edged down from last week as supplies are building
up amid an ongoing harvest in the Mekong Delta region," a trader
based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
"Sales are slow this week as buyers are waiting for the new
rice."
Iraq recently signed a contract to buy 150,000 tonnes of
Vietnamese rice for delivery in June and July, another trader
said.
In second biggest rice exporter Thailand, the 5-percent
broken variety RI-THBKN5-P1 was unchanged from last week at
$385-$400 a tonne, free on board (FOB) Bangkok, as demand
remained flat with the market not expecting any major deals in
the short term.
"There are concerns that the drought this year would lower
rice supply later, but there is no shortage yet as we enter the
rainy season," a trader said.