India 2009-10 soy output likely same as last year

 

 

India's soy production in the crop year starting Nov. 1 is likely to remain at about the previous year's level due to a pick up in the annual monsoon in key growing regions, a senior industry official said Wednesday (July 29).

 

"We expect the production to be about 10.5 million tonnes next year," Rajesh Agrawal, spokesman of the Soybean Processors Association of India, told Dow Jones Newswires.

 

The country's soy output in the year ending October 2009 is estimated to be about 10.8 million tonnes.

 

The improvement in monsoon rains in the last 2-3 weeks has made up for June's shortfall, Agrawal said.

 

In Madhya Pradesh, the largest soy growing state, the area under cultivation was 5 million hectares, he added.

 

Monsoon rains were inadequate in June in central parts of India, with the rainfall being about 70 percent below normal levels.

 

However, a pick- up in monsoon rains in July has brought down the shortfall to about 10 percent, according to the India Meteorological Department.

 

"We may see delayed harvesting, but the yields are likely to improve on a pickup in rainfall," Agrawal said.

 

Soy yield in the crop year ending Oct. 31 is estimated at 1,124 kilograms per hectare.