This year’s monsoon rainfall in India was the lowest since 2018 as the El Nino weather phenomenon made August the driest month in more than a century, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday. Rainfall across the country between June and September was 94% of the IMD long-term average.
However, the rainy season is very important for India as almost half of its agricultural land has no irrigation. A weak rainy season will impact harvests and make staples such as sugar, pulses, rice and vegetables more expensive and increase overall food inflation.
The drop in production could also prompt India, the world’s second-largest producer of rice, wheat and sugar, to impose more restrictions on exports of those products.
The irregular distribution of monsoon rains has caused India, the world’s largest rice exporter, to limit rice shipments, impose a 40% tariff on onion exports, allow duty-free imports of pulses and potentially lead New Delhi to ban sugar exports.
