NEW DELHI (Commodity Online): The revival of annual monsoon rains in the key agricultural regions in India have provided new hopes of better crop yield, said Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukharjee on Monday.

The improved rains have eased the concern over the possible prices hike in rice with the expected availability of around 14 million tones as of October 1, he said.

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The wheat surplus would be about 17.7 million tons as of April 1, 2010, he added. India’s monsoon rains were 20% below normal between June 1 and September 9, but the deficit is expected to narrow because of late rains to around 15% by the end of this month, according to meteorological department officials.