ASIA RICE-Tight supplies lift Vietnam rates to 16-month high

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Bangladesh domestic rates high despite imports, duty cuts-trader

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Price fluctuations due to exchange rate, overseas demandsteady- Thai trader

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Export rates little changed in India

By Kavya Guduru

Nov 24 (Reuters) - Export prices of rice from Vietnamhit their highest levels since July 2021 this week, with tradersexpecting a fall in supply as well as growing demand for thecereal to support prices into the year-end.

Vietnam's 5% broken rice <RI-VNBKN5-P1> was offered free onboard at $438 per tonne, compared with last week's $425-$430range.

"The increase in prices this week was due to tighteningsupplies from the Mekong Delta," a trader, based in the MekongDelta province of An Giang, said, adding at the current level,"Vietnamese rice prices are now higher than other exportingpeers".

Prices would keep edging higher until the end of December ondwindling stocks and rising demand from China and Europeancountries, some traders said.

Top exporter India's 5% broken parboiled variety rates<RI-INBKN5-P1> were unchanged at $373-$378 per tonne amid gooddemand from importing countries.

"Rice prices are moving up in other exporting countries.Indian rice is cheaper even after paying export duty," said anexporter based in Kakinada in the southern Indian state ofAndhra Pradesh.

Limited supplies are available for exporters as Indiangovernment has been aggressively buying new season paddy fromfarmers, the exporter said.

India has raised the price at which it will buy thenew-season common rice paddy variety from local farmers by 5.2%,the biggest increase in five years.

Domestic prices in neighbouring Bangladesh stayed elevateddespite a series of efforts, including allowing imports and dutycuts, traders said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had forecast Bangladesh'sproduction to drop 1% from last year to 35.6 million tonnes inthe 2022-23 marketing year due to floods.Bangladesh, traditionally the third-biggest rice producer inthe world, often imports to manage shortages caused by naturaldisasters.

Thailand's 5% broken rice prices <RI-THBKN5-P1> were quotedat $419-$425 per tonne, compared with $410-$425 last week.

Traders said fluctuations in prices were due to the exchangerate, while overseas demand remained steady with no major dealstaking place.

"There have been some deals, while many importers arestocking up for future orders," a Bangkok-based trader said.(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Phuong Nguyen inHanoi, Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok and Ruma Paul in Dhaka;Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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