UPDATE 1-Vietnam's July inflation hits 27 pct yr/yr-paper

(Adds details)

HANOI, July 24 (Reuters) - Vietnam's July inflation could have hit an annual rate of 27.04 percent, state media reported on Thursday, extending the run of double-digit inflation for a ninth month and raising the likelihood of more rate rises.

The report said lower food prices will slow the rise in consumer prices in July from June.

But analysts expect any softening in inflation from a drop in food prices to be more than offset by the steep rise in energy prices. The government raised petrol prices by a hefty 31 percent this week.

Food prices in July were expected to drop 0.37 percent from the previous month so the consumer price index will rise just 1.13 percent from June, the smallest monthly increase this year, the ruling Communist Party-run Nhan Dan (People) newspaper quoted government figures as saying.

Consumer prices in June rose 26.8 percent from a year earlier and increased 2.14 percent from May, the General Statistics Office had said.

The government is expected to release full inflation data later this week.

Food prices have been easing this month due to the harvest of a bumper rice crop now at its peak in the Mekong Delta. Food prices account for 42.8 percent of the price basket Vietnam uses to calculate inflation.

Nhan Dan quoted government figures as saying the average inflation for January to July would hit 21.28 percent against the same period last year, accelerating from the annual rise of 20.34 percent in the first half of the year.