View source for Asia Rice-Vietnam Rates Scale 8-yr Peak As Rains Hamper Harvest

<br>By Shreyansi Singh<br> <br>BENGALURU, June 4 (Reuters) - Vietnamese rice export prices hit their highest in more than eight years as traders struggled to meet rising demand and heavy rains hampered harvest in the Mekong Delta.<br> <br>Rates for  [https://www.diigo.com/item/note/79gls/wp9b?k=121782a7da87ddbb1f16d5016beb2317 www.diigo.com] Vietnam's 5% broken rice &lt;RI-VNBKN5-P1&gt; rose to $475 per tonne on Thursday - the highest since early 2012 - from $450-$460 a week earlier.<br> <br>"Demand remains strong, while supplies are thin," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.<br> <br>"Traders are finding it difficult to secure enough rice to fulfil their contracts signed with buyers in Malaysia and Cuba," the trader said.<br><br>Other traders, speaking on condition of anonymity, said heavy rains were slowing the summer-autumn harvest in the Mekong Delta.<br> <br>Vietnam aims to ship 7 million tonnes of the grain this year, higher than last year.<br> <br>Heavy rains also hit cultivation in Bangladesh, farmers said, submerging tracts of land.<br> <br>Bangladesh, traditionally the world's fourth biggest rice producer with an annual output of about 35 million tonnes, often resorts to imports to cope with shortages caused by floods or droughts.<br> <br>Top exporter India's 5 percent broken parboiled variety &lt;RI-INBKN5-P1&gt; fell to $368-$373 per tonne from last week's $370-$375.<br> <br>Importers in Africa and Asia have slowed purchases after large buys in May, said Nitin Gupta, vice president of trader Olam India's rice business.<br> <br>India has raised the price at which it will buy new-season common rice varieties from local farmers by 2.9%.<br> <br>Thailand's benchmark 5-percent broken rice &lt;RI-THBKN5-P1&gt; prices rose to $490-$512 on Thursday, from $489-$490 quoted last week.<br><br>Traders attributed the increase to a stronger baht.<br> <br>"There still are some lingering concerns over supply in the domestic rice market despite the recent spell of rain, and this continues to keep the price high," a Bangkok-based trader said.<br> <br>Rains have eased supply concerns after one of the worst droughts in decades impacted rice growing areas across Thailand earlier this year.<br><br>(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; editing by Arpan Varghese and Barbara Lewis)<br>