Asia rice price surge shows no let-up, Thai jumps

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The surge in Asian rices prices showed no sign of relenting on Thursday as Thailand's benchmark grade jumped 10 percent from a week ago, heightening fears over supplies of Asia's staple food.

In a clear sign of the strain on rice supplies after major exporters began to curb exports earlier this year, a tender from the world's top importer the Philippines attracted offers to sell only about two-thirds of the amount it was seeking.

In Bangkok, Thai 100 percent B trade white rice, considered the world's benchmark, hit a record $950 per tonne, free on board, in Thursday's tender, having trebled since the start of 2007, raising the prospect of millions of people, especially in impoverished Asian countries, struggling to feed themselves.

"Everybody should realize that there will no longer be any cheap rice," Chareon Laothamatas, managing director of Uthai Produce Co. Ltd., a leading exporter of premium grade fragrant rice, told Reuters.

The Philippines, where an escalating anxiety over rice supplies has become a hot political issue, received offers in its latest tender between $872.50 and $1,220 a tonne, sharply higher than the just over $700 it paid in March.

Traders in Bangkok said other grades of rice from Thailand, the world's number-one exporter, were also quoted higher.

Thai 100 percent parboiled rice was sold at $960 per tonne to African countries for May and June shipment, while Thai 100 percent premium grade fragrant rice was sold at $1,200 per tonne to Hong Kong and U.S. importers, traders said.

"There was strong demand for parboiled rice and also white rice and we expected buyers to buy more," Korbsook Iamsuri, secretary-general of the Thai Rice Exporters Association told Reuters.

(Reporting by Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat; Editing by Ed Cropley)