India's castor seed sowing may fall 40% this year as farmers shift to other crops

Date:08-30-2016

Castor seed sowing may decline by 25 to 40 per cent in the year 2016-17 as farmers shift further in favour of groundnut and pulses. According to Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) of India, since the past three years, castor prices have been under pressure due to higher production and demand fluctuation in castor oil.

As per the agriculture department of India, as on August 19, total sowing of castor seed has reached to 425,000 hectares, down by 15 per cent from 502,000 hectares in corresponding period last year. India's total sowing was about 1.13 million hectares in 2015-16. Gujarat which is the largest castor seed producer state in India has sown 327,200 hectares as on August 22, 2016 as against 500,700 hectares in last year.

"Since the past three years, prices of castor and castor oil have been under pressure and on the other hand, crops like groundnut and pulses are offering better returns to farmers. This may translate into lower sowing of castor seed by anywhere between 25 per cent and 40 per cent in India this year," said Haresh Vyas, co-chairman of SEA Castor seed and Oil Promotion Council and director of Royal Castor, Mumbai.


India is the largest producer of castor seed in the world and biggest exporter of the castor oil. Due to high production and good carry over stock of the commodity, prices of castor oil in international market is now ruling at $ 1,033 per tonne as against $ 1,247 in July 2015 and $ 1,440 per tonne in July 2014.

According to a survey report by SEA, castor seed production in India was estimated at 1.39 million tonnes for the year 2015-16 as against 1.35 million tonnes in 2014-15.

"Export of castor oil has been almost stagnant in the past few years from India and this has laid pressure on castor oil prices," Vyas said.

India exported about 434,645 tonnes of castor oil during April-February 2015-16. In 2014-15, the country had exported 459,378 tonnes of castor oil.