India’s monsoon rains cover entire country but still down on average

• India’s annual monsoon covered the entire country on 2 Jul 22, six days earlier than usual, the state-run weather office said, but rain totals are 5% below average so far this season.
• The monsoon arrived on the coast of the southern Kerala state on 29 May 22, a couple of days ahead of usual, yet after a promising start the rains gradually tapered off, clocking an 8% deficit in Jun 22 amid scanty rains in central parts of India.
• Cotton, soybean and sugar cane growing states in central India received as much as 54% lower rainfall than normal in Jun 22, according to data compiled by the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
• As India’s summer-sown rice accounts for more than 85% of its annual production of 129.66 million tonnes, monsoon rains play a crucial role in determining the crop size.
• The patchy rains slowed the planting of rice, an essential summer crop. India’s rice farmers have planted 4.3 million hectares with the grain so far this season, farm ministry data showed, down 27% y/y after lower than usual Jun 22 rainfall.
• The area planted with cotton totalled 6.4 million hectares, up from 6.2 million hectares a year earlier.
• Sowing of soybeans, the main summer oilseed crop, stood almost unchanged at 3 million hectares. Sugarcane planting was almost unchanged at 5.3 million hectares.
• “West Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh immediately need two to three good spells of rain, or both the area and productivity could be affected,” said one Mumbai-based dealer with a global trading firm, referring to the top rice-growing states in the world’s biggest exporter of the commodity.
• Rice planting could pick up, but low rainfall could hit crop yields, said the dealer, who declined to be identified because he is not authorised to talk to the media.
• India is likely to receive monsoon rainfall between 94% to 106% of a long-term average in Jul 22, the IMD said, the most crucial month for the planting of critical crops such as rice and soybeans.
• The weather office defines average, or normal, rainfall as between 96% and 104% of a 50-year average of 87 cm (35 inches) for the entire four-month season beginning in June. Rains between 90% to 96% are considered below average.
• Monsoon rains are likely to be average or above average over some regions of northern India, central India and most parts of southern India, the weather office said.
• It said that most regions in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country are likely to receive average to below average monsoon rains. Some regions where monsoon rains are expected to be average or below average fall under the country’s rice belt.
• Bountiful monsoon rains in July would ease concerns about the output of summer crops, promising higher incomes in the countryside where most Indians live.
• As almost half of the country’s farmland lacks irrigation, Indian farmers depend on the monsoon.

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-monsoon-rains-cover-entire-country-still-down-average-2022-07-02/

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/indias-rice-planting-lags-last-year-after-low-rainfall-2022-07-01/

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-critical-july-monsoon-rains-expected-between-94-106-2022-07-01/

External Link : https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indias-june-monsoon-rains-8-below-average-weather-department-2022-06-30/