India is the world’s largest producer of castorseed and meets most of the global demand for castor oil. Traders and industry officials said farmers, encouraged by higher castorseed prices, are expected to boost cropping in ‘00-01 (November-October). The country exports around 210,000 tonnes of castor oil annually.
Export source reported that the area under castor crop this year is to be expected an increase because prices have been better than most other oilseeds. Traders said castorseed is expected to be sown on around 850,000 hectares against 750,000 the previous year. Castorseed sowing starts in July, and harvesting in November.
Traders said castorseed prices hit a high of about Rs. 510 per 20 kg in ‘99-00 against Rs. 475 the previous year. In comparison, mustard seed prices were around Rs. 200-250 for 20 kg against Rs. 275-350 in ‘98-99. "Castor is the only profitable oilseed at this moment and farmers are shifting to castor from other oilseeds, reported by the president of the Ahmedabad Oil & Oilseeds Broders Association.
Castorseed production is estimated to have increased to about 800,000 tonnes in ‘99-00 compared to 560,000 tonnes the previous year, traders said. The country’s edible oil imports jumped to 4.39m tonnes of edible oil in ‘98-99 compared with 2.68m tonnes in the previous year. In the first eight months of the ‘99-00 oil year, India’s oil imports rose five percent to 2.56m tonnes from 2.45m in the year ago period, as reported.
Market
Update
(Oil Seeds)
