Page 3 - El Nino

Will the September uptick in rural economy sustain in future?

The uptick in monsoon rains in September after a dry August and improvement in kharif acreage seem to be the immediate plausible reasons for the improvement

Centre set to restrict sugar exports after poor monsoon rains: Report

Monsoon rain this year was the lowest since 2018 due to the El Nino weather pattern

Monsoon ends 'normally' as positive factors countered El Nino: IMD

The four-month monsoon season has ended with India receiving "normal" rainfall -- 820 mm against a long-period average of 868.6 mm -- with positive factors countering the effect of El Nino conditions, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday. Rainfall between 94 per cent and 106 per cent of the long-period average (LPA) is considered normal. However, normal cumulative rainfall over the country during the monsoon season doesn't mean even spatial and temporal spread of precipitation. The Indian monsoon refers to inherent fluctuations and changes that occur over time due to various natural factors. This is called natural variability. Research, however, shows climate change is making the monsoon more variable. Increased variability means more extreme weather and dry spells. IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said with positive factors countering the effect of El Nino, the 2023 monsoon ended with 94.4 per cent cumulative rainfall, which is considered "normal".

Rabi season: Govt aims 60% of wheat area under climate resilient varieties

Ahead of rabi sowing from next month, the Centre on Tuesday said it targets to bring 60 per cent of the total wheat area of 30 million hectare under the climate-resistant varieties amid strong El Nino conditions. Despite the challenges of climate change, the Union Agriculture Ministry has kept a target of achieving a record wheat output of 114 million tonne in the 2023-24 rabi season against the actual output of 112.74 million tonne in the year-ago period. Sowing of wheat, the main rabi (winter) crop, begins in October, while harvesting starts in March/April. Addressing a national conference held to chalk out a strategy for sowing rabi (winter) crops, Agriculture Secretary Manoj Ahuja said: "There are certain changes in climate change, which is affecting agriculture. Our strategy is climate resilient seeds". Faced with a heatwave in 2021, the government encouraged farmers in 2022 to go for heat-tolerant wheat varieties in 47 per cent of the total wheat acreage of 30 million ...

El Nino unlikely to cause sugar shortage in India in 2023-24: NFCSF

Sugar cooperative NFCSF on Thursday junked rumours of likely sugar shortage in the country due to El Nino, saying domestic availability of the sweetener is not expected to be "adverse" in the 2023-24 season. Sugar season runs from October to September. The crushing operation of 2023-24 is yet to begin. The National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) in a statement said El Nino - which refers to warming of ocean surface - has impacted the drying flurry of monsoon in some parts of Maharashtra. "However, all other cane growing states i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Uttarakhand, have received above normal rains which has definitely helped the growth stage of standing cane to gain weight and sucrose content," NFCSF Managing Director Prakash Naiknavare said. He also observed that there is a "widespread rumour" in some sections about possible severe shortage of sugar during 2023-24 season. "The factual situati

Mohali to Manila: Rice economy faces turmoil as El Nino turns up heat

The agriculture department is coordinating with the state's irrigation and energy departments to ensure optimum supply of water and electricity

El Nino's potential impact on rabi crops overcasts govt's fiscal arithmetic

Food inflation rose to a three and a half year high of 11.51 per cent in July this year, compared to 4.31 per cent in the previous month

TMS EP511: OCCRP allegations, Pratt & Whitney, agro-chemical stocks & more

What are OCCRP's allegations against Adani Group? Are Pratt & Whitney engines pulling India's airlines down? Will El-Nino spell trouble for agro-chemicals? What experiments will Vikram and Pragyan do?

India experiences the driest August ever recorded, with a 33% rain deficit

IMD expects a monsoon revival from September 2 onwards, despite El Nino still being active

India braces for driest August since 1901 amid intensifying El Nino

India is poised to experience the driest August since 1901 which, senior meteorologists say, is a clear result of intensifying El Nino conditions. Also, the monsoon this year may end up being the driest since 2015, which recorded a rainfall deficit of 13 per cent, they said. With a 32 per cent precipitation deficit in August so far and the prediction of only subdued rainfall activity over a large part of the country in the next three days, India is on track to record the driest August since 1901, an India Meteorological Department (IMD) official said, requesting anonymity. August receives 254.9 mm of rainfall, accounting for around 30 per cent of the precipitation during the monsoon season. India recorded a rainfall deficit of 25 per cent in August 2005, 24.6 per cent in 1965; 24.4 per cent in 1920; 24.1 per cent in 2009 and 24 per cent deficit in 1913, according to the IMD data. IMD chief Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said the primary reason for below-normal rainfall in August was El Nino

Elevated inflation trends may dig a deeper hole for FMCG stocks: Analysts

Investors have shunned consumer stocks with shares of HUL, ITC, Britannia, Godrej Consumer, Tata Consumer, and Nestle India dropping in the range of 1-11 per cent in a month

Power demand heats up to record high of 233 Gw due to rising temperatures

Experts believe prolonged hot weather would keep the electricity demand pushing up. This would drive demand for coal

Winter vanishes, heat scorches the Andes as climate change meets El Nino

"What to do?" Chilean Environment Minister Maisa Rojas, who is also a physicist and climatologist, said in a series of Twitter posts. "We know the solution: stop burning fossil fuels urgently!

Extreme heat and weather conditions attributed to stagnant jet stream

Powerful weather forces are combining to create the planet-wide conditions, and there's unlikely to be relief from the scorching temperatures anytime soon

India's El Nino silver lining: Resilience to poor rainfall improving

Agriculture's role in the economy has reduced over the decades, easing impact of 'climatic shock'

Weak demand, inventory to weigh on agrochemical companies' stocks

Street remains cautious about the sector due to lower price realisations and fears about El Nino's impact on the monsoon

Monsoon deficit likely to get wiped off soon, but El Nino a concern

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted a normal rainfall in July at 94-106 per cent of the long-period average (LPA), cumulatively across India.

Temperatures seen surging as El Nino weather pattern returns: WMO

El Nino, a warming of water surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, is linked to extreme weather conditions from tropical cyclones to heavy rainfall to severe droughts

Will strive to get CPI to 4%, El Nino a challenge for food inflation: Das

Governor Shaktikanta Das has said the Reserve Bank will strive to get headline inflation to its 4 per cent target but flagged El Nino as a challenge to its efforts. In an exclusive interview with PTI Bhasha at his office here, Das exuded confidence that the economy will grow at 6.5 per cent in FY24, as estimated by the RBI earlier. The central bank's rate hikes by a cumulative 2.50 per cent since May last year, coupled with supply-side measures from the government, have helped get the inflation down to 4.25 per cent in May from a peak of 7.8 per cent in April last year, Das said. "We continue to be watchful on the inflation front. We expect inflation to be at 5.1 per cent in FY24, and we will continue to strive and get it down to 4 per cent," he added. On the high borrowing costs, Das said interest rates have a direct relation with inflation, and the RBI can cut interest rates if the consumer price inflation cools down to 4 per cent or thereabouts on a durable basis. The governor

El Nino's fierce heat carries new risk of resurgent deadly viruses

Mosquitoes that transmit such viruses flourish in the warmer weather that El Niño is set to bring to many parts of the world