Heavy Rain To Inundate India’s Top Cotton, Peanut Growing Region

(Bloomberg) -- India’s biggest cotton and peanut growing areas are forecast to continue witnessing heavy rains and strong winds this week, raising the risk of floods and threatening the crops that are just weeks away from harvesting.

Saurashtra and Kachchh regions of the western state of Gujarat will receive heavy precipitation for three days through Saturday, according to the India Meteorological Department. A deep depression in the coastal parts may intensify into a cyclone on Friday, causing the wind speed to surge to as high as 85 kilometers (53 miles) per hour, it said in a bulletin Thursday.

Any severe damage to cotton plants could put pressure on the South Asian nation to increase overseas purchases, potentially underpinning global prices of cotton that have slumped almost 15% this year. A likely drop in production of peanuts could tighten supplies of the commodity in the country that imports about 60% of its vegetable oil needs. 

Some parts of the state have already been facing flash floods due to a strong downpour earlier this week, with a town getting as much as 300 millimeters of rain in 24 hours ending at 8:30 am local time on Thursday, the IMD said.  

The National Disaster Response Force has been deployed in the affected region. They rescued more than 500 people from water-logged areas of several districts of Gujarat, the agency said in a post on X.          

A 15-foot crocodile waded through the flood waters and entered into a house in Vadodara district of Gujarat, the Times of India reported on Thursday. 

Oil explorers and port operators along and off the coasts of Gujarat and Maharashtra state are advised to keep a watch on developing weather and take necessary action until Friday, the weather department said. Fishermen in the area have been advised to stay away from the Arabian Sea.

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