El Nino scare for drought-hit India

India staring at a drought, thanks to a delayed and weak monsoon. The crops hardest hit by drought are rice, sugar and soyabean.

Trade sources said that India's sugar stocks on July 31 were 60 per cent lower than a year ago. It is a bigger year-on-year decline than the 54 per cent drop a month ago.

But under threat now is the protein crop, soyabean, which India exports to many countries. Its output may fall five-seven per cent if the dry period continues, so will the yield of other oilseeds and pulses.

And what could be a worry for India is the new weather movements over the Pacific Ocean. Australia's weather bureau is reporting the warming of the Ocean, also known as the El Nino effect.

The bureau says that a stronger El Nino effect could weaken the monsoon though according to experts in India there is no direct relationship between the El Nino and the monsoon.

The strengthening of the El Nino could mean that the Met Department's second revised downward forecast of 87 per cent rainfall may prove to be optimistic.

Tags: drought, India, monsoon, rain

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