RPT-Asia Rice-Rupee slide drags Indian prices lower, strong baht buoys Thai rates

(Repeats with no changes)
* Thai prices near highest since June 2018
* Vietnam prices fall to $325-$330 a tonne on weak demand

By Harshith Aranya
BENGALURU, Sept 5 (Reuters) - A plunging rupee weighed on
Indian rice export prices this week while a strong baht kept
rates for the grain from flood-hit Thailand near a one-year high
and more expensive than its Asian competitors.
In top-exporter India, the benchmark 5% broken parboiled
variety RI-INBKN5-P1 was quoted around $369-$374 per tonne
this week, down from $374-$378 a week ago, due to a depreciation
of the rupee despite healthy demand from African countries.
"The rupee has been helping to clinch deals in last few
weeks," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state
of Andhra Pradesh.
The rupee fell to 72.40 per dollar on Tuesday, its weakest
this year, still suffering from data last week that showed the
economy grew at its slowest pace in over six years in the last
quarter. INR=IN
Prices of second-biggest exporter Thailand's benchmark 5%
broken white variety RI-THBKN5-P1 narrowed slightly to
$410-$422 a tonne from last week's $410-$430, traders said.
At an average of $416 per tonne, Thai rice is trading near
its highest since June 2018, when prices plunged due to a sudden
build-up in supply.
A firmer Thai baht, Asia's best-performing currency this
year, has kept Thai prices higher than those of main competitor
Vietnam since the beginning of the year. Also keeping prices
elevated were fears of a supply shortage due to a months-long
drought earlier, and now floods, in rice-growing areas.
Thailand said flash floods caused by tropical storm "Podul"
damaged over 240,000 hectares of agriculture land. "Drought and floods have made prices high and uncompetitive,
significantly dimming export prospects," a Bangkok-based trader
said. "Output will certainly be lower this year."
Meanwhile, Bangladesh, also reeling from floods, is
providing free seed and fertilizer to affected farmers for the
next crop season, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said.
Floods in July washed away crops that would have yielded
nearly 400,000 tonnes of rice, Bangladesh's agriculture ministry
estimates showed. Prices of Vietnam's 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 fell to
$325-$330 per tonne on Thursday from $335-$340 last week on weak
demand.
"Buyers from the Philippines haven't placed any new deals
this week ahead of a harvest there later this month," a trader
based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
Another trader in the city said demand from other markets
was also muted, adding that Cambodia recently shut its door to
Vietnam's glutinous rice variety, pulling down its price by $100
from a recent peak of $710 a tonne.