Area under castor seeds down 31%

As of August 14, the area under castor seeds has decreased 31 per cent compared to a year earlier.

According to data provided by the central government’s agriculture department, as on August 20, sowing of castor had been carried out across 501,000 hectares, against 730,000 hectares in the corresponding period last year.

Sowing of castor seeds is usually carried out in the July-September period.

In Gujarat, the commodity was sown across 304,000 hectares, down 34 per cent from 458,000 hectares a year earlier, while in Rajasthan, the area stood at 101,000 hectares, compared with 140,000 hectares in the year-ago period.

“International demand for castor oil has been dull, primarily from China. And, exchanges have higher stock positions of castor, while farmers and processors have also contributed to the slowdown in sowing so far,” said Ritesh Kumar Sahu, agriculture analyst at Angel Broking.

Experts say lower export demand for castor oil and higher stock positions restricted castor prices in the domestic market, which led to a change in the sentiment towards the crop. It is estimated as of now, India has about 500,000 tonnes of castor stock.

According to data provided by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), castor oil export stood at 459,374 tonnes in 2014-15, against 472,255 tonnes in 2013-14. Export during April-May this year increased to 90,396 tonnes from 85,837 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. Traders say export demand has gradually fallen since May.

B V Mehta, executive director of SEA, said, “The castor crop needs less water and this year, the monsoon has been good so far, which might have diverted farmers to crops such groundnut.”

Last year, many cotton and groundnut farmers in Gujarat had shifted to castor due to a weak monsoon. As result, the overall castor-sowing area increased to about a million hectares from 750,000 hectares in 2013. For 2014-15, castor production is estimated at about 1.50million tonnes.