BENGALURU/MUMBAI/BANGKOK/HANOI AND BANGLADESH: Prices of rice exported from Thailand and Vietnam edged lower this week due to lower demand and rising supplies, while India rates held steady amid firm demand from African countries.

Vietnam’s 5% broken rice were offered at $580-$585 per metric ton on Thursday, down from $585-$590 a week ago, traders said. “Prices edged lower as supplies are building up as farmers have started harvesting the summer-autumn crop,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said. Vietnam’s rice exports in May are estimated to have risen 35.5% from the same month last year to 980,000 tons, according to government data.

Rice shipments in the first five months of this year likely rose 14.7% from a year earlier to 4.15 million tons.

Thailand’s 5% broken rice was quoted at $620 to $630, down slightly from last’s week range of $630 to $635. Prices weakened due to a previous auction that drove selling prices up artificially but at the end, Thai rice was not sold, said a Bangkok-based trader.

Another trader said that there was sustained demand from Africa and Iraq that supported prices and additional supply would come in July and August.

Top exporter India’s 5% broken parboiled variety was quoted at $535-$543 per ton this week, little changed from last week’s $536-$544 range.

“Paddy supplies are falling in central and eastern states. Demand is more or less stable since India is offering rice at lower prices than other countries,” said an exporter based in southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

In neighbouring Bangladesh, prices stayed high despite good crops and reserves, traders said, hitting consumers hard.