Thai rice prices are expected to hold steady over the next week despite thin overseas demand, helped by limited domestic supply due to rain, traders said on Thursday.
Thai 100 parboiled rice was steady at $286-290 a tonne on a free-on-board basis, excluding freight costs on Thursday from last week.
"The market is not exciting as it was in the last month," said one trader. "There are a few enquiries for parboiled rice from African countries, but I don't think they have a firm interest to buy yet.
They are just checking the price." The domestic price of 100 percent grade B paddy was steadies at 11.25 baht a kg ($275 a tonne) on Thursday from a week.
"Supply is currently limited because rain has disrupted harvesting," said Kriangsak Tapananon of the Thai Rice Millers Association, referring to the small third crop.
The rainy season starts in mid-May and usually runs through to October and farmers will not start harvesting the next main crop until November.
Traders said recent floods in some growing areas in the north and north-east had not affected the main crop because the waters receded quickly.
The Agriculture Ministry estimates the next main crop at 21.27 million tonnes of paddy, up 14 percent from the previous crop on expectations of favourable weather and good domestic prices.
Heavy rain has also hit loading of rice from Thailand, the world's top rice exporter, which ships some 500,000 tonnes of rice each month.
"Vessels are getting delayed in terms of loading because of rain," said one trader. More rain is expected in the east and northeast in the coming days, the Meteorological Department said.
Between January 1 and August 31, Thailand exported 4.9 million tonnes of rice, 23 percent less than the 6.36 million shipped in the same period of last year.
Thailand shipped a record 10.13 million tonne of rice last year, up from 7.58 million tonnes in 2003. However, the last main crop was hit by drought, which could trim exports to 7.5 million tonnes this year, or even less, exporters said.
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