"Delayed rains have damaged the (groundnut) crop, and a survey carried out by our department...shows the yield will be around 500,000 tonnes less than the last season," GT Patel, Gujarat state's additional director for agriculture, told Reuters.

Patel said Gujarat's winter groundnut output was expected to be 1.9 million tonnes compared with 2.4 million in the last winter season. The western state contributes 35 percent of the country's groundnut output.

A trader in Rajkot marketing yard said about 15,000 bags (of 35 kg each) of groundnut were arriving every day compared to 25,000 bags in the same period last year.

"Even the quality of the crop is not very good in certain areas," said Shamjibhai Khoond, chairman of the yard.

Rajkot, located 210 km (130 miles) West ofAhmedabad, has the biggest marketing yard in Gujarat.

Patel said the first two phases of the monsoon were good but the last phase in September was delayed by 20 days. "Delayed rains causes sprouting of groundnuts in the soil."

India's southwest monsoon begins in June and lasts until September.Patel said groundnuts had been cultivated in 1.8 million hectares of land in the state, out of which irrigation facilities was available only in 20 to 30 percent of the area with the rest dependent on rains.

Patel, quoting the survey, said the state's cotton output was estimated to be 4.2 million bales (of 170 kg each) in 1998-99 (April-March) compared with 3.5 million bales last year.

"Cotton needs water only in the beginning of the season, so the dry weather has not hit the crop," he said.

The trade expects India's cotton crop to be about 15.5 to 15.8 million bales in 1998-99 (October-September).

Groundnut and cotton harvesting begins in mid-September and lasts until November.