United States new-crop Maize futures fell for a tenth straight session as forecast by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for abundant global supplies dragged on prices. The United States corn harvest was projected at 13.86 billion bushels, down slightly from last month but it is near to the last year's record.
During current crop season, Cardamom arrivals were 21134 tonnes against 15040 tonnes a year ago at Kochi market. Prevailing weather conditions is good for Cardamom and crop would be normal this year. Intermittent showers punctuated by sunshine keep the Cardamom plant healthy and with sufficient wet conditions required by it.
India exports 2-3 lakh tonnes of Groundnut kernels every year not to the traditional premium markets in Europe, but to the less fastidious markets in South-East Asia. The minimum support price (MSP) for Groundnut in-shell stood at Rs 4000 per quintal in 2013-14. For 2014-15, Groundnut in-shell production target is 90 lakh tonnes.
Uncertainty over progress of the delayed Monsoon is complicating India's Sugar policy. The Indian government will prefer to see the impact of monsoon rains before extending current incentives for raw Sugar exports. Removing the incentives would be bullish for international prices because Sugar exports from India would drop.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the rainfall activity is now going to shift to North India for the next 4 to 5 days. Central India is already receiving rain and there are forecast of some more good rain in the region in next 48 hours.
Here’s our list of top ten rainiest cities in India on Sunday.
| Cities | State | Rainfall (in millimetres) |
| Agumbe | Karnataka | 230 |
| Lakhimpur | Assam | 133 |
| Kozhikode | Kerala | 120 |
| Harnai | Maharashtra | 110 |
| Karipur | Kerala | 100 |
| Bhira | Maharashtra | 90 |
| Cannur | Tamil Nadu | 90 |
| Cherrapunji | Meghalaya | 64 |
| Honavar | Karnataka | 60 |
| Karwar | Karnataka | 45 |
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, Monsoon in India will be active during the first half of this week. Here’s a region wise look at the weather in India:
North India – Weather in North India will be cooler this week as the Monsoon clouds will cover the region and pull down the maximums which were recording five to seven degrees above the normal average in the last few days. Rain bearing Monsoon clouds will bring scattered to good showers over Delhi and entire northern plains on the 16th and 17th July. Rain will reduce thereafter and the weather will again turn mainly dry. Though, a persistent cloud cover may not allow the maximums to shoot up to 40⁰C this time. Up in the hills, barring Uttarakhand where Monsoon showers could be good from 15th July, the weather in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir will almost be dry .
East and Northeast India – There isn't going to be heavy rain in East India this week. Rain will be scattered and light in parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand from the 15th to the 18th of July. The low pressure system in the Bay of Bengal will give some light rain over the area as it is moving inland. In the Northeast, rain activity will be subdued for the entire week. There isn't any strong Monsoon trough which would give rain to the area.
Central India – Just as predicted, Central India remains the main center of activity this week. However, here too rain will reduce from the second half of the week, i.e. Thursday onwards. Rain will reduce as the low pressure system will move northwards towards Uttar Pradesh. The first half of the week will see some good Monsoon showers over entire Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Rain and a thick cloud mass will make both days and night very cool. Maximums will settle in the lower thirties, while minimums will settle in the lower twenties. Gujarat will witness some good rain only for the first two days of the week, turning dry thereafter.
South India – The weather in South India is expected to be less rainier this week. The west coast which has been observing some torrential rainfall in the last three to four days, will continue to receive rain of varied amounts throughout the week. But the interior parts will be the worst hit as rain will almost be nil here. States of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu will also not observe any major rain activity. As a result, temperatures will rise to settle in the higher thirties at places with little rain . Good rain all along the west coast will help in reducing the rainfall deficit of 32% being faced by South India.
Southwest monsoon is a four month long season over Indian region spanning from June to September. Monsoon as such being a complex phenomenon is also inherited with variety of phases ranging from active Monsoon to weak, lull and break etc. Southern parts of the country enjoy the complete four month duration of Monsoon, whereas northern region actively observe only about two months before it recedes in September.
Onset of Monsoon often takes a skewed shape and is rarely as per the normal dates over all parts of the country. The onset becomes further interesting, when this feature gets influenced by other global phenomenon like El Nino, La-Nina, ENSO , IOD and MJO etc.
It is observed that the Indian seas on either side of the coastline start becoming turbulent and rough during the pre-monsoon season and it continues to remain the same till mid July. Supposedly, the seas calm down relatively thereafter due to sustained Monsoon activity, altering the atmospheric parameters like temperature, humidity, winds etc.
State of the sea is being manifested as, Monsoon peaking at different times over different region. While the onset phase will see the Monsoon peaking over Kerala in June, Konkan and Goa, on the other hand will observe maximum rains during July. Central, Eastern and most Western parts receive good rainfall in August. Rainfall in September over various parts is in accordance with the withdrawal dates from the respective zones.
Here is a table showing the average monthly rainfall figures of some important cities.
| Cities | June Rainfall | July Rainfall | August Rainfall | September Rainfall |
| Kochi | 705 mm | 593 mm | 403 mm | 280 mm |
| Trivandrum | 330 mm | 188 mm | 152 mm | 169 mm |
| Kottayam | 653 mm | 539 mm | 415 mm | 275 mm |
| Mumbai | 523 mm | 800 mm | 530 mm | 312 mm |
| Mangalore | 1044 mm | 1104 mm | 734 mm | 253 mm |
| Nagpur | 166 mm | 288 mm | 275 mm | 171 mm |
| Ahmedabad | 95 mm | 281 mm | 235 mm | 96 mm |
| Delhi | 77 mm | 214 mm | 253 mm | 121 mm |
| Chandigarh | 145 mm | 280 mm | 307 mm | 133 mm |
| Allahabad | 127 mm | 265 mm | 279 mm | 204 mm |
| Bhubaneswar | 205 mm | 326 mm | 392 mm | 235 mm |
| Bhopal | 148 mm | 372 mm | 403 mm | 181 mm |
| Jabalpur | 212 mm | 341 mm | 433 mm | 172 mm |
Monsoon 2014 has behaved somewhat truant and left most meteorological agencies speculating its track and course during the four month long period. Onset dates, in any case are least correlated and also inconsequential of its further advancement and performance, as well, over different parts. However, this season, the onset has got systematically delayed right from Kerala to Mumbai and on to Kolkata and Delhi. One third of the season is coming to an end and the Monsoon still seeks some openings for entry in to significant portion of the country covering Gujarat, Rajasthan and parts of Madhya Pradesh.
Month of July inherited a rainfall deficiency of 43% from June and it continues to be same till date, for the country as a whole. The picture gets further scary with deficit mounting to 70% over central and northwestern parts. They also appear to be unsurmountable and therefore project reasonable chance of Meteorological drought in many of the sub- divisions.
According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, the weather in Central India is expected to be rainy for the next 48 hours due to a weather system (low pressure) which is seen extending from east Madhya Pradesh up to Odisha coast.
Rain in Central India had been predicted by Skymet over a week back and since then the weather in the region was being closely monitored.
On Sunday, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh received 10 mm of rain whereas Khajuraho and Seoni received 45 mm and 30 mm of rain respectively. Rain in Panchmadi and Guna was less at 22 mm and 24 mm respectively. Light showers occurred in Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Odisha and Jharkhand too. Bhubaneswar recorded 17 mm of rain, Nagpur had 12 mm, Raipur received 22 mm and Ranchi got 7 mm.
In the last three days, Bhopal received 40 mm of rain, Bhubaneswar 76 mm, Nagpur 14 mm and Raipur recorded 46 mm of rain.
Rain in Central India is expected to increase further in the next 48 hours, becoming fairly widespread. Some isolated heavy showers are likely in Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha and Chhattisgarh. Odisha and Jharkhand may not receive heavy rain.
Further, skies are expected to be cloudy to overcast in entire Central India. Madhya Pradesh and interior Maharashtra will observe overcast skies. Maximums in most parts of Madhya Pradesh are already settling between 33⁰C and 35⁰C due to cloudy weather.
Deficit in central India reducing
Rain deficit in Central India has come down from over 60% last week to 57% till 13th July due to some good showers observed in the last few days. Though, it is still the highest in the country as compared to other sub divisions. More rain in the next two days may further reduce the deficit but it may still fail to cover up the excessive deficit that June brought to the region.
After a dry spell of about one week, from 7th to 12th July, Delhi finally observed some good rain on Sunday. However, this spell of rain was patchy in nature, with the bulk of rain being observed in south, central and outskirts of Delhi.
Safdarjung recorded 25.6 mm of rain, Palam 15 mm, Lodhi road 25.2 mm and Noida 15 mm. While Pitampura, Delhi University and Ridge in north Delhi recorded 00.0 mm, 2.00 mm and 2.2 mm of rain respectively. These figures clearly show that rain in Delhi was patchy on Sunday.
Soon after the spell, temperatures dropped by 8 to 10⁰C in those areas that received good rain. Just before the spell of rain, the Safdarjung observatory was recording 43.6⁰C as the maximum temperature, while Palam was 42⁰C.
With the spell of rain, the hot day conditions (minimums recording 5⁰C above normal average) being observed in Delhi for the last few days also abated. Minimums came down by about five degrees in the capital.
Forecast for Delhi till 18th July, rain expected
On an average, Delhi receives 214 mm of rain in the month of July, but till the 14th of July Delhi has received 37.9 mm of rain only. It is likely to pick up in the coming 4 to 5 days.
