>India monsoon covers central India, advances to north

Mumbai - India's annual monsoon rains have covered most parts of the key oilseed-growing central state of Madhya Pradesh, and further advanced towards the northern region, the India Meteorological Department said Tuesday.

The annual monsoon rains will likely advance over northern parts of the country over the next one to two days, the department said on its Web site.

"Now, only some parts of Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana (in northern India) are remaining, which are expected to be covered in the next one or two days," said a department official, who didn't want to be identified.

Central India is likely to receive moderate rainfall over the next week, the official said.

Conditions are favorable for the monsoon's progress over remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh - a major sugar cane and rice producing state - as well as Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, the department said.

Isolated heavy rainfall is also likely over the west coast and northeastern states, West Bengal and Sikkim, Bihar, east Uttar Pradesh and north Madhya Pradesh during the next 48 hours, it said.

The country received normal to above normal rainfall in the last five days, another weather department official said.

India's annual monsoon rains were deficient in June due to a two-week lull in the annual rains that followed the appearance of a cyclone two to three days after the rains hit the country's coast on May 23.

The country's June-September monsoon season is important for summer-sown crops including oilseeds, rice and sugar cane, as 60% of cultivated areas are rain-fed.

Source: COMMODITIESCONTROL