RPT-Asia Rice-Vietnam prices slip on weak demand; India rates steady

(Repeats with no changes)
* Rainfall damages harvest crop in many Indian states -
exporters
* Thai prices little changed at $390-$413 a tonne
* Bangladesh to buy 1 mln tonnes of rice from farmers -
minister

By Sumita Layek
BENGALURU, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Rice export rates for the
Vietnamese variety fell this week from multi-month highs on weak
demand from Philippines and China, while prices were steady in
top exporter India on festival-thinned trading.
Vietnam's 5% broken rice RI-VNBKN5-P1 inched lower to
$345-$350 a tonne on Thursday, from a 4-1/2 month high of
$350-$355 last week.
"Trading is thin this week on weak demand from major buyers
such as Philippines and China," said a trader based in Ho Chi
Minh City. "The autumn-winter crop season will be in full swing
in December," the trader added.
Vietnam's rice shipments in the first 10 months of this year
rose 6.1% from a year earlier to 5.56 million tonnes, but export
revenue fell 7.8%, government data showed. In India, prices of the 5 percent broken parboiled variety
RI-INBKN5-P1 were unchanged from last week at $368-$372 per
tonne.
"Trading was negligible due to the Diwali festival. New
season supplies have also been delayed due to recent rainfall,"
said a Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm.
Prices had recovered from a four-month low on a stronger
rupee last week.
Many rice growing states had rainfall in the last few days,
damaging paddy crops ready for harvesting, exporters said.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, benchmark 5 percent broken
rice RI-THBKN5-P1 prices were at $390-$413 a tonne, versus
$396-$410 last week.
"The domestic price of rice is actually quite low but it's
the baht that's really pushing up export prices and this has
deterred overseas buyers," a Bangkok-based rice trader said.
Exporters have wrestled with a strong baht this year, which
has kept prices for the Thai variety higher than those of
competitors.
"New supply will gradually enter the market over the next
few weeks until the end of the year and if exporters can't sell,
stockpiles may build and prices would fall," another
Bangkok-based trader said.
Elsewhere, Bangladesh will buy 1 million tonnes of rice and
paddy, up from 600,000 tonnes last year, in the upcoming
harvesting season from local farmers who incurred losses from
high production costs and low domestic prices this year,
Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said on Thursday.
Rain-fed rice output or the Aman crop, accounting for nearly
a third of country's annual rice output of around 35 million
tonnes, is estimated to hit 15.3 million tonnes this year from
nearly 14 million tonnes last year, the minister said.