Drought in Brazil's main center-south Sugarcane belt in early 2014 will reduce country's Sugar production this season by 2 million tonnes. The region, which accounts for 90 percent of Brazil's cane, is likely to produce 32.3 million tonnes of sugar in the 2014-15 season, 5.8 percent less than the 34.29 million tonnes the previous year.
US Soybean futures edged lower, but were poised to record weekly gains of nearly 1 percent on concerns over tight old crop supplies after the US Department of Agriculture pegged exports above market expectations. Exports from theUSAhave been better that expected. Indian Soy oil futures rose due to shrugging of losses in the global market.
Sowing of Cotton were lower in India from a year earlier as well as from normal levels, according to Agriculture Ministry. The area under Cotton sowing for the week ended on June 26 were 2.907 million hectares against 5.577 million hectares a year-ago period. A poor start of monsoon season, slowed the overall pace of cotton sowing.
Vietnam, the world's top Robusta Coffee producer, exported an estimated 110000 tonnes (1.83 million bags) of coffee this month, 22.4 percent more than a year ago and below market expectations. May 2014 Coffee exports were revised down to 137400 tonnes, from 170000 tonnes in an earlier estimate, said in the government report.
According to latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, moody Monsoon may strengthen over the west coast of peninsular India in the next 24 hours, due to a trough, bringing good monsoon showers along the Kerala and Karnataka coast. On the other hand dry Maharashtra ( particularly Madhya Maharashtra) may also witness some scattered rainy in the next 48 hours because of an increase in the westerly surge from the Arabian Sea. The month of July may bring some rainy news for south Gujarat too.
Karnataka & Kerala
Rain has almost been nil in most places along the Karnataka and Kerala coast for the last three to four days and the last heavy shower tha was witnessed was around 22nd and 23rd June. Less rain has led to a rise in deficit from 20% to 26% in Kerala and 30% to 38% along Karnataka coast. However, the deficit is once again likely to drop as monsoon may pick up.
In the last 24 hours Bangalore and Mangalore were the only two cities to have recorded rain. Bangalore received heavy monsoon showers of 26.4 mm after two weeks of dry weeks. Weathermen tell us south interior Karnataka could continue to receive rain for 24 hours and the weather may go dry thereafter.
Barring rain at Kerala and Karnataka coast, weather in South India will be mostly dry. The cyclonic circulation which brought rain to Odisha, Andhra Pradesh in the last two days has now moved further inland into Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Madhya Maharashtra & South Gujarat
Skymet predicted that July may bring some hope for parched areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat after days of dry weather and rising temperatures. And our predictions are coming true. Weathermen tell us a slight increase in the westerly surge (moisture laden winds) from the Arabian Sea may bring light scattered rain to Madhya Maharashtra, in cities like Satara, Mahabaleshwar, Latur and Osmanabad, and to south coastal Gujarat in cities like Surat and Bhavnagar in next 48 hours.
Meanwhile Mumbai and Vidarbha may also get lucky this week. Rain is expected to occur here from 5th July onwards. Weather in Maharashtra on a whole has been dry for approximately ten days.
On the other hand, south and central Madhya Pradesh, including capital city Bhopal may also receive rain around 5th or 6th July. Monsoon line has been stagnant for days now and is yet to cover west Madhya Pradesh.
With no rain since 17th June, rain deficit in south Gujarat is a whopping 70%, whereas in Madhya Maharashtra is marginally less, at 67%. Mumbai lies in the Konkan region where the rain deficit has mounted to 60%.
“Most places are in dire need of Monsoon rain and we are hoping this week to bring some positive changes in the weather in India”, says meteorologist Mahesh Palawat.
People heaved a sigh of relief when good amounts of rain in the last 24 hours lashed many parts of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. And farmers are in for good times as more rain is predicted during the next two to three days.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, rain occurred in these states due to a trough of low which is seen extending along the foothills of the Himalayas and for the next 48 to 72 hours, weather in North India could be rainy at many places including Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, east Haryana, Delhi and northwest Uttar Pradesh.
Rain is expected to be scattered over Himachal Pradesh and Uttarkhand during the next 24 hours and increase from 1st July to become fairly widespread. Punjab, east Haryana and northwest Uttar Pradesh may witness scattered light to moderate showers during the next 72 hours. Meanwhile Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir will witness isolated rain activity.
Here’s a look at some of the rain figures in the last 24 hours:
Punjab - Amritsar 32.4 mm, Ferozpur 38 mm, Kapurthala 11 mm, Pathankot 29 mm.
Uttarakhand - Dehradun 11.2 mm, Haridwar 20 mm, Mukteshwar recorded traces of rainfall, Uttarkashi and Nainital 1 mm, Tehri 5 mm.
Rain was the heaviest in the state of Himachal Pradesh - Dharamshala 35 mm, Nahan 32 mm, Shimla 17 mm, Solan 22 mm, Sundernagar 15 mm, Bilaspur 15 mm, Hamipur 5 mm, Keylong 4 mm and Una 1.8 mm.
Isolated rain occurred in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi too. Kupwara 9 mm, Banihal 8 mm, Katra 2.2 mm, Batote 0.7 mm and Jammur 1.1 mm. Skymet’s weather station at Hindon in East Delhi recorded 13 mm of rain.
“Though there is forecast for rain in North India this week, chances of Monsoon revival still looks slow. The National Cumulative rainfall deficit has already mounted to 42%. However, we will very soon be coming out with an analysis on the prospects of Monsoon in India in July”, says meteorologist Mahesh Palawat.
