TABLE-India oilseed area drops, soybean bucks trend

Aug 13 2009 7:08PM

Aug 13 (Reuters) -

India's oilseed area fell because of weak

monsoon rains over producing central and western regions, but

soybean area rose, while area under groundnut, mainly grown in

western state of Gujarat, fell sharply.

Cane area remained unchanged since mid-July.

The details of sowing of various crops until week ended Aug.

13 vs the previous week and the total area, in million hectares,

in which crops are normally sown every year are:

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CROP NORMAL AUG 13 AUG 6 PCT OF NORMAL AREA

AREA AUG 13 AUG 6 AUG 13 (2008)

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Rice 39.117 24.74 22.82 63.24 58.34 77.8

Corn 6.371 6.755 6.502 106.03 102.06 103.4

Cotton 8.373 9.369 9.292 111.89 110.98 99.0

Sugarcane 3.927 4.250 4.250 108.22 108.22 111.5

Lentils 11.170 15.247 7.891 136.50 70.64 73.6

Oilseeds 16.640 15.247 15.072 91.63 90.58 98.6

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Source: Government of India