RPT-Asia Rice-Indian prices slip on weak African demand; strong baht hurts Thai exports

(Repeats story that ran on Thursday, with no changes)
* Muted demand for Indian rice despite price correction
* Vietnamese rice rates edge up from 12-year low
* Exporters in Vietnam benefit from higher Thai rates
* Dhaka considering providing subsidy to farmers

By Karthika Suresh Namboothiri
BENGALURU, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Indian rice export prices
slipped this week as demand from Africa was subdued, while
shipments from Thailand remained sluggish due to a strong baht.
Prices of 5% broken parboiled variety RI-INBKN5-P1 in top
exporter India were quoted at around $371-$375 per tonne this
week, down from $373-$379 a week ago.
Demand from African countries has been muted for the last
few weeks, even as export prices have corrected, said an
exporter based at Kakinada in the southern Indian state of
Andhra Pradesh.
India's rice exports plunged 26.5% in April-July from a year
ago to 3.14 million tonnes, a government body said earlier this
month. In Thailand, a strong baht THB=TH , Asia's best performing
currency in 2019, has kept away potential buyers who find
cheaper markets elsewhere, such as in Vietnam. Thai exporters
have struggled to sell the staple since the beginning of the
year.
The country's benchmark 5-percent broken
rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices were quoted at $400-$420 a tonne on
Thursday, compared to $400-$418 last week.
"The price is only fluctuating due to the exchange rate at
the moment as both demand and supply remain unchanged," a
Bangkok-based trader said.
Concerns over supply also persist due to floods in
northeastern Thailand that have damaged agricultural land,
including some rice-growing areas. This has not had an immediate
impact on prices though, traders said.
"Buyers seem to be heading to Vietnam as Thai prices are a
lot higher," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
"We think that prices have bottomed and that domestic
supplies have gone low as the summer-autumn harvest has ended."
In Vietnam, rates for 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 rose to
$335 a tonne on Thursday from $325 a week earlier, which was its
lowest since November 2007.
Preliminary data showed at least 37,100 tonnes of rice is
scheduled to be loaded at Ho Chi Minh City ports during Oct.
1-9, with most of the shipments bound for West Africa and
Malaysia, according to traders.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is considering providing a subsidy to
farmers, who suffered a double blow of low rice prices and high
harvesting costs, in an effort to reduce production costs and
boost domestic output, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque told
Reuters on Thursday.
"To make it profitable, we must use more machinery because
the labour price is very high. We'll provide (a) subsidy to help
farmers buy modern machinery so that they minimize labour costs
for production," he said.
Dhaka has been unable to clinch overseas deals since a
long-standing export ban was lifted in May as its rice is more
expensive than India's or Thailand's, despite a recent fall in
local prices.