India's 2015/16 summer rice output to drop on poor rainfall

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is likely to produce 90.6 million tonnes rice in 2015/16 from summer-sown crop - a tad lower than last year - on account of the first back-to-back drought in three decades, the government said in its first advance estimate.

The country's food grain production from summer-sown crops is likely to drop 1.8 percent from a year ago to 124.05 million tonnes due to a steep fall in corn production, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

The estimate will get revised as the government updates sowing data.

Rains were 16 percent below average so far over the four-month monsoon season that ends this month due to an El Nino weather pattern, which can lead to scorching weather across Asia and east Africa but heavy rains and floods in South America.

This follows a 12 percent shortfall in rains in 2014, making this year only the fourth time India has seen back-to-back drought years in more than a century.

(Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Malini Menon)