MUMBAI (Commodity Online): India’s annual monsoon rains this year were registered 23% below normal, worst ever since1972, when rainfall was 24% below normal for the entire season, said an official of Indian meteorological department on Wednesday.

The annual monsoon rains, which normally starts from June 1 and ends September 30, are crucial for summer sown crops including cotton, rice, sugar cane, pulses and oilseeds as around 60% of country’s farm lands are rain fed.

Crops sowing ceased due to the scanty rains in the major growing regions in the country, which expected to result a sharp decline in production.

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Demand for consumer goods in rural households usually fall during times of scanty rains and lower crop output. The deficit in the current seasonal rainfall has widened by one percentage point from the June 1-September 23 period.

During the June 1-September 28 period, rains in the northwest were 36% below normal, while the northeastern states received 27% less rainfall than usual, the official said. Rainfall in the central region was 20% below normal, while in the south, it was 7% below average, he added.