Oilseeds acreage drops by 7.6%

Groundnut0.9540.8961.01411.63 Rapeseed/Mustardseed6.5996.6075.960-9.80 Sesamum0.2450.1300.1353.84 Linseed0.4260.5180.486-6.17 Sunflowerseed1.2611.2041.048-2.96 Safflowerseed0.3500.3410.315-7.62 Total9.8359.6968.958-11.00 Source: COOIT  Therefore, the industry is pushing for the use of genetically modified seeds to maximise output without increasing area. This will also reduce dependence on imports.  Total area under rapeseed/mustardseed, the major oilseed crop of the season, slumped by around 10 per cent to 5.96 million hectare from 6.61 million hectare while linseed acreage dropped 6.17 per cent to 486,000 hectares.  Area under sunflowerseed and safflowerseed also declined by 2.96 per cent and 7.62 per cent to 1.048 million hectares and 315,000 million hectares respectively.  In contrast, groundnut area jumped by 11.63 per cent to 1.014 million hectares from 896,000 million hectares and sesamum area perked up marginally by 3.84 per cent to 135,000 million hectares from 130 million hectares in the period under consideration.  COOIT has been for long advocating genetically modified crop for oilseeds. The demand for edible oils in the country has been growing by over 15 per cent.  India consumes around 12 million tonnes of edible oil each year, but produces only 5.5 million tonnes.  The oil body also revised the output estimates for the current oilseed season (November-October) at 25.49 million tonnes compared with 22.97 million tonnes in the same period last year.  Kharif oilseeds output has been revised upwards at 16.89 million tonnes against 13.45 million tonnes, while rabi estimate has been put at 8.60 million tonnes against 9.52 million tonnes in the corresponding period last year.  Meanwhile, edible oil prices have surged up to 26 per cent in the last one month. Refined soybean oil perked by Rs 720 per 10 kg from Rs 572, while RBD palmolein has gone up by 23 per cent to Rs 665 from Rs 541.