Castor production in Gujarat likely to cross 1 mn tonne mark

On the back of increased sowing of castor seed during the Kharif season this year coupled with favourable weather conditions, castor production in Gujarat, the largest producer of the commodity, is all set to witness a sharp jump in the output of this oilseed. Both government and industry players see Gujarat's castor production crossing one million mark in the year 2011-12.

The industry expectation of higher production in the state stems from the fact that area under castor crop this Kharif season galloped by nearly 300,000 hectares. "As on September end, the castor acreage stood at 873,000 hectares in the state, while the average acreage for the last three years is around 487,000 hectares," said an official with the state agriculture department.

As per the information available with The Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), an apex body of solvent extraction industry, the total area under castor crop in 2011-12 has jumped to 811,000 hectares from 519,000 hectares in 2010-11, which shows a sharp rise of close to 300,000 hectares. "Considering the substantial increase in the acreage, the castor production in Gujarat may well be in the range of 1-1.1 million tonnes in 2011-12," said a market source.

It may be mentioned here that the castor crop survey released by SEA in February last year had estimated the castor production in Gujarat for 2010-11 at 860,000 tonnes, which was higher by 10 per cent as compared to the production registered in 2009-10. The average yield for the year 2010-11 was 1,781 kg per hectare as against 1,683 kg per hectare during the year 2009-10.

"The climatic condition this year for castor crop is favourable and the area under the oilseed has surged noticeably. This may result into a rise of 20 per cent in castor production in Gujarat this year," said Prakash Mehta, a castor trader based out of Ahmedabad.

However, the full fledged arrivals of the new crop is likely to be delayed by a month and the arrival will pick up with the onset of February. "Most of the castor arrivals in the local markets currently are comprised of old stocks. The new crop will be delayed owing to late sowing," added Mehta.

The sowing of castor is normally completed by the month of September but extended monsoon this year delayed the sowing activity in the state. The delay in arrivals has also kept the spot prices of castor at higher levels. Currently, the spot prices of the commodity are hovering around Rs 800-805 per 20 kg. The castor prices had reached an all time high of Rs 1,250 per 20 kg during the period January-February this calendar year.

Castor traders in local markets expect the prices to inch up in near future in the wake of tight supply at present. The overall castor production in India in 2010-11 was 1.20 million tonnes.