July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Soybean farmers in India, the world’s biggest buyer of vegetable oils after China, may complete sowing as rains gather pace over the biggest growing areas.
The monsoon will be active over central India in the next four-to-five days, the India Meteorological Department said on its Web site today. Rains will extend into Gujarat and interior Maharashtra starting tomorrow, the weather office said.
Farmers delayed planting of monsoon crops, including rice, corn and oilseeds, as showers in the June 1-July 1 period were 46 percent below average. Soybeans were planted to 1.42 million hectares as on July 3, 52 percent less than year ago, the farm ministry said yesterday.
“If we get rains in the next four-to-five days, not only will the sowing be complete but the previous sown area will also be in good condition,” said Rajesh Agarwal, spokesman for the Soybean Processors Association of India. “A bulk of the sowing was done in the last few days of June up to July 5.”
A bigger soybean crop may help India pare imports of edible oils, estimated by the oilseeds processing industry to reach a record 8 million tons this year. The country purchases palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and soybean oil from Argentina and Brazil. Palm oil makes up 90 percent of all cooking oil imports.
Monsoon rains, the main source of irrigation water for the nation’s 235 million farmers, covered the entire country July 3, 12 days before schedule, the weather bureau said that day. Falls spread to the entire country on July 10 last year.
The monsoon weather system revived late last month after a two week lull caused by tropical cyclone Aila, which lashed the nation’s east coast on May 25. That helped narrow the deficit to 29 percent in the week ended July 1 from 68 percent a week ago, the weather office said July 2.
Rains may be below normal this year, the government said on June 24, paring its forecast due to the El Nino weather pattern. Near-normal rains were predicted in April.
Sowing of monsoon crops begins in June and ends mostly by July. Harvesting starts in September.
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