Monsoon to arrive on May 30: Govt

Reuters

15 May 2010: Monsoon rains, critical to farm output in India’s trillion-dollar economy, will arrive on May 30, India’s Earth Sciences Minister Prithviraj Chavan said on Friday.

Last month, India’s weather office had forecast a normal June-September monsoon this year after the 2009 season saw the worst drought in nearly four decades.

Weak rainfall last year led to a sustained rise in food prices in India, while New York Raw sugar futures soared to a 29-year high because of a big deficit in India, the world’s biggest consumer.