SINGAPORE: Hotter and drier than normal weather over the next two weeks in India is likely to threaten crops, including wheat, a US-based meteorologist said on Wednesday, after the country recorded its highest ever maximum temperature in February.

“Vast majority of the country is forecast to experience below-normal precipitation and above-normal temperatures from now until mid-March,” Chris Hyde, a meteorologist at US-based Maxar said on the sidelines of a grains conference in Singapore.

India is likely to experience heat waves between March and May, especially in the key wheat producing central and northern states, the country’s weather office said earlier this week. The abnormal weather for the second straight year could dent production of wheat, rapeseed and chickpeas, and complicate governments efforts to bring down food inflation.

The heat wave curtailed India’s wheat production in 2022 and forced the world’s second-largest producer to ban exports.