Irregular August Monsoons Forecasted To Impact Soybean Production In Key Regions

New Delhi, Sept 22 (KNN) The uneven monsoon rains in August are expected to result in a decline in India's soybean production, particularly affecting crucial cultivation regions, reported Moneycontrol stating industry officials and farmers.

India uses soybeans to manufacture soy oil, which helps the country cut its hefty edible oil imports, while the by-product soymeal is used for animal feed and exported mainly to Southeast Asia.

Indian farmers planted 12.5 million hectares of soybean this year, compared with 12.4 million hectares in the year-ago period, according to the farm ministry's latest data on crop sowing.

B.V. Mehta, executive director of Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said, “The rainfall deficit is likely to result in lower yields, and that's why I believe that soybean production could be lower than last year.”

Although rains have revived, some regions are still dry in western India, he said.

Mehta added that despite a late start of the monsoon in June, the crop was quite good until August when a prolonged dry spell hit the crop.

This August, the monsoon rains were 36 per cent below average in August, although rains have revived this month to rebound to 7 per cent above average.

“Despite the lower output, soybean supplies will come in higher than the demand as stockpiles at the start of the new marketing year are expected to be anywhere between 1.5 million tonnes and 2 million tonnes,” Mehta added.

Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan are some of India's top soybean-producing states.  (KNN Bureau)