NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's monsoon rains were 6 percent above average in the past week, the weather office said on Thursday, the first time they have been heavier than average in the current rainy season that began in June, in what is turning out to be a drought year.
The crucial monsoon rains, vital for the 55 percent of Indian farmland without irrigation, are 12 percent short of average so far and threaten cereal and pulses production as drought continues in some areas of west and south India.
In the previous week, rainfall was 2 percent below average, which is still within a normal range, as the monsoon revived in rice, cane and soybean growing areas of the world's leading food consumer and producer.
Rains below 90 percent of long-term averages in the entire season are considered "deficient," or a drought in layman's terms.
India, whose huge land mass contains nearly all climates and soil types, last faced widespread drought in 2009 when the June-to-September monsoon rains were 22 percent below average and it had to import sugar, pushing global prices to 30-year highs.
(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; Editing by Jo Winterbottom)
