By Christine Stebbins

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. rice futures prices spiked to a 9-1/2 month high on Monday as fears about a smaller Asian stockpile sparked investor buying.

The strong trend in Chicago Board of Trade futures markets began last week when India announced it scrapped a rice import duty after severe weather hurt its output. Since then Indian state-backed agencies have tendered to buy up to 30,000 tonnes of rice.

Those concerns led the Philippines, the world's biggest rice buyer, to push for a rice stockpile system to prevent a repeat of the 2008 price crisis, when the market soared to record highs.

"It is the unknown as to what kind of needs India and the Philippines will have in the world market, and how they are going to go about meeting those needs," said Neauman Coleman, an analyst and rice broker in Brinkley, Arkansas.

It is "speculative fever" driving Chicago Board of Trade long grain rough futures higher as there was an ample U.S. rice supply, Coleman added.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently projecting 2009/10 U.S. rice stocks up 53 percent from a year ago at 46.6 million cwt, despite a rain-delayed harvest.

CBOT rice for November delivery on Monday soared 45 cents to $14.81 per hundredweight, the highest level for the spot contract since mid-January, before ending up 43 cents, or 3 percent, at $14.79.

The more actively traded January contract closed 36 cents higher at $15.05, after notching a contract high of $15.10-1/2.

"A lot of it is follow-through from last week. That was some very positive news last week regarding India and the Philippines," said Jack Scoville, an analyst with The Price Futures Group, a Chicago brokerage.

"We took out last week's highs -- it ran over $15 in January -- trying to turn the longer-term trends up."

India, the world's second largest rice producer following China, is typically a net exporter of rice. But severe weather during India's growing season could turn it into a net importer.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said last month that rice stocks among the world's top exporters were likely to fall to less than 20 million tonnes in 2010, from more than 30 million tonnes this year, as output suffers from weather changes.

(Editing by Walter Bagley)