The southwest monsoon has advanced to most parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, the India Meteorological Department said. The Cotton Association of India has revised downward its production estimate for the 2021-22 (Oct-Sep) marketing season to 31.5 mln bales (1 bale = 170 kg), from 32.4 mln bales projected a month ago, it said in a release. Farmers have sown crops across 9.96 mln ha, down 8% from a year ago, in the 2022-23 (Jul-Jun) kharif season so far, data from the farm ministry showed. Farmers in the country have sown groundnut across 319,600 ha in the ongoing 2022-23 (Jul-Jun) kharif season as of Friday, down 19.4% from the same period last year, according to data from the farm ministry. In the 2022-23 (Jul-Jun) kharif season, farmers across India have sown moong across 189,700 ha as of Friday, down 7.3% from a year ago, data from the farm ministry showed. The area under cotton across the country in the 2022-23 (Jul-Jun) season was over 1.9 mln ha as of Friday, down 6% from a year ago, data from the farm ministry showed.