India rice prices dip; drought fears spur domestic buying in Thailand

Rice export prices in top exporter India edged lower this week due to sluggish demand, while fears of a drought this year supported up domestic buying in Thailand.

India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety was quoted around $387-$390 per tonne this week, down from last week's $390-$393.

"Demand is very poor at current price level. The appreciation in the rupee has limited scope to cut prices," said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

A strong rupee dents exporters' returns from overseas sales.

India's rice exports for April-February fell 9.4 percent from a year earlier to 10.57 million tonnes, as major buyer Bangladesh trimmed its purchases due to a bumper local harvest, a government body said.

Farmers in Bangladesh have planted the summer rice variety on 4.9 million hectares of land, exceeding the target of 4.8 million hectors, Mir Nurul Alam, head of the country's Department of Agriculture Extension, told Reuters on Thursday.

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