Monsoon rainfall 37 pct below average in past week

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Monsoon confirmed its early retreat with rains below average for a third week running, but key summer crops such as rice, cane, soybean and cotton have already had ample watering and can withstand less now as they are maturing.

Rainfall was 37 percent below average in the week ended on September 11 compared with 30 percent deficiency the previous week, the weather office's latest data showed on Thursday.

The monsoon, vital for the 55 percent of Indian farmland that does not have irrigation, usually starts retreating from Rajasthan by mid-September.

This year, the rains were the heaviest in nearly two decades during the first half of the season and covered the country at the fastest rate ever, almost a month ahead of schedule.

Those ample rains make bumper harvests likely, which should help rural growth and bring a small silver lining to the government's current economic storm clouds.

India, one of the world's biggest producers and consumers of farm commodities, is heavily reliant on the annual monsoon rains for its huge harvests of rice, sugar and cash crops like cotton.

(Reporting by Ratnajyoti Dutta; editing by Malini Menon)