India’s monsoon rains hit four-year high in boost to crop output

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India’s monsoon rains hit four-year high in boost to crop output

By Rajendra Jadhav

MUMBAI (Reuters) – India’s monsoon rainfall this year was its highest since 2020, with above-average precipitation for three consecutive months, helping the country recover from last year’s drought, the state-run weather department said on Monday.

India’s annual monsoon provides almost 70% of the rain it needs to water farms and replenish reservoirs and aquifers, and is the lifeblood of a nearly $3.5 trillion economy. Without irrigation, nearly half of Indian farmland depends on the rains that usually run from June to September.

Rainfall over the country from June through September was 107.6% of its long ******* average, the highest since 2020, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

India received 11.6% more rainfall than average in September, following 9% and 15.3% above-average rainfall in July and August respectively, the IMD data showed.

Above-average rainfall in September, arising from a delayed monsoon withdrawal, damaged some summer-sown crops like rice, cotton, soybean, corn, and pulses in certain regions of India.

However, the rains may also enhance soil moisture, benefiting the planting of winter-sown crops such as wheat, rapeseed, and chickpea.

India badly needed good rainfall in 2024 after its driest year in five years in 2023, which depleted reservoir levels and trimmed production of some crops. This forced New Delhi to impose curbs on exports of rice, sugar and onions.

Rainfall distribution was generally good, which helped farmers expand areas under most crops, said Ashwini Bansod, vice president, commodities research at Phillip Capital India.

“This means we could have larger harvests of some summer-sown crops, potentially helping the government to relax trade restrictions in certain cases,” she said.

India on Saturday lifted curbs on exports of non-basmati white rice. That came a day after New Delhi cut export duty on parboiled rice to 10%, buoyed by a new crop in the offing and higher inventories in state warehouses.

(Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav; editing by Mark Heinrich)

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