BENGALURU: Rice export prices in top-hub India edged higher this week as floods and surging coronavirus cases hammered supply and export logistics. India's 5% broken parboiled variety rose to $383-$389 per tonne from last week's $382-$387, with exporters struggling to fulfil orders due to limited availability of containers and workers at the country's biggest rice handling port, Kakinada, in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

"Demand is huge for Indian rice due to lower prices, but exports are getting affected by floods and the coronavirus outbreak in Andhra Pradesh," said Nitin Gupta, vice president for Olam India's rice business. With 2.84 million total COVID-19 cases, India is the worst-hit country in Asia and third only behind the US and Brazil in terms of the number of cases. Floods in neighbouring Bangladesh damaged rice crops worth 363.34 billion taka ($4.29 billion) on around 100,000 hectares, Agriculture Minister Abdur Razzaque said.