Will food prices moderate with a good monsoon?

Food prices will fall if the rains are plentiful, feels a majority of our respondents. Food inflation for the week ending June 16 - the latest figure available before going to press - stood at over nine per cent, contributing substantially to the overall inflation rate. C. Rangarajan, who heads the prime minister's Economic Advisory Council, has also said he expects overall infl ation to drop to 6.75 per cent - it was 9.06 per cent in May - if the monsoon is good. But will it be? The latest meteorological department prediction has said the rains may be "just below normal" this year.