Author: Michael Ferrari, PhD
VP, Applied Technology & Research
After some scaling back of precipitation totals, the Indian Monsoon has again picked up, bringing rain to most of the sugarcane, pulse and cotton regions across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka states (current image from Weather Trends below). Progress through the weekend looks generally favorable as there is considerable moisture moving westward over the subcontinent, coming in from the Southern Bay of Bengal. The current pattern should progress to start to deliver higher daily moisture totals to central/northern Maharashtra over the next couple of days. As we have been discussing in our weekly Monday outlooks over the past couple weeks, we see no major changes in sugar fundamentals and anticipated sideways to slight upside behavior in futures, which materialized as July is currently trading in the mid 15-cent range. If rains over southern into central India continue through the weekend, we may be looking at a softer open on Monday.
