Monsoon boosts cane area, weak in other parts

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Monsoon has remained weak after falling 24 percent below normal levels last week but the biggest cane-growing region has received heavy showers, the weather office said, boosting prospects of higher sugar output in the world's top consumer.Rainfall in India, the world's biggest importer of edible oils and second-biggest rice producer, was 20-30 percent lower than normal in the past 3-4 days, officials at the India Meteorological Department said.Weather officials say the distribution of rainfall over main crop-growing areas has been good so far, minimising the risk of significant crop damage.However, dry weather in some parts and floods in a few districts of Haryana and Punjab states have encouraged farmers to switch to short-duration crops such as basmati rice, which can be planted late but have a lower yield.The weather office said rainfall would be meagre in the soybean-growing central regions in the next 48 hours but is expected to improve later.Fairly widespread rainfall would occur over central and east India, the India Meteorological Department said in its forecast.Officials said weekly rainfall would improve."We are not expecting above-normal rainfall but hopeful of either normal or near-normal rains. That is because of not much activity in the Bay of Bengal," said B.P. Yadav, the spokesman for the weather office.The Indian government is monitoring the progress of the monsoon as adequate rains would boost food output, calm inflation and help the government lift the ban on exports of wheat and non-basmati rice.Trade Secretary Rahul Kullar told reporters the government could take a decision on easing export curbs only if monsoon rains were close to normal.In the week to July 14, monsoon rains were 24 percent below normal, and the weather office had ruled out the possibility of a sudden, higher rainfall.However, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said he remained optimistic that crop output would be much higher than last year, when the weakest monsoon in nearly four decades hit cane output, leading to large sugar imports -- a key factor in lifting New York raw sugar futures to the highest in 29 years.Last month, the India Meteorological Department said monsoon rains, which deliver 75-90 percent of India's rainfall, were expected to be 102 percent of the long-period average for the June-September season.Rains were patchy after the monsoon covered the entire country on July 6, nine days of schedule.(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj, Himangshu Watts and Matthias Williams; Editing by Alison Birrane)(For more business news on Reuters India click http://in.reuters.com)
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