Jaipur (Commoditiescontrol) - Castor seed acreage in India is unlikely to shrink during current season as sowing is in progress at various places in key producing states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh is expected to continue until September 15.
Castor growers in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan are waiting for rainfall to continue sowing while in Gujarat water loggin in the field due to heavy rainfall in state and farmers are waiting fodder crop in the field to run through after which they will resume sowing castor seed.
In fact, castor seed sowing statistics from theses three states fueled the fear that castor seed acreage will decline this year. However, this is unlikely to boost a rally in future. Commoditiescontrol took the stock of the situation and has realised that castor seed sowing is not over yet.
Farmers who are not interested in winter crop may sow castor seed as the fields get vacant after running through the green fodder in next few days, said Rakesh Dhariwal, Wankal Corporatio, Deesa. Castor seed selling is good enough in the state, however, water logging in fields and farmers are waiting for draining out of the same, so that they can restart sowing which would continue until September 15, he added. Of course, it is too early to assess area under castor seed cultivation in the ongoing sowing season.
“Castor output was around 12 lakh tonnes across the country this year while carry forward stocks were at nine lakh tonnes out of which 7-8 lakh tonnes of stocks are left over,” according to Dhariwal. He expects six lakhs tonnes of castor seed to be consumed till the new crop arrives in the market.
Castor seed traded at Rs 5,200/100kg in January 2015, since then its prices, gradually, declined. However, exporters as well as the companies dealing in castor seed products, usually, tend to keep prices up in order to lure the farmers to grow castor seed, he further added. Thats the reason castor seed is expected to touch a level of Rs 4,300-4,400/100kg in near term, however, it is a fact that castor seed demand is weak in the International as well as the domestic market, according to Dhariwal.
Farming land is still inundated with water at many places, obviously, castor seed sowing will resume as water drains from the field, said Bharat Patel, Jignesh Kumar Bharat & Company. Heavy rainfall and water logging in fields caused damage to cotton seed crop at various places in Gujarat where farmers are left with an option to sow castor seed instead resowing of cotton, he added.
According to Patel, “demand for castor products, usually, remains poor during June-September.” Present stocks of castor seed would be not less than 70-80 lakh bags as 30 lakh bags remains as dead stocks, he further added.
Raunak Mehta, Manoharlal & Company, Mehsana said, castor seed sowing is better as seed sale has sharply risen and actual sowing data will come by September 30.
“Up to June castor products exports remained good but volume of exports slid later, even, unsold stocks are left over abroad.” he added.
Castor seed exports recorded 42,000 tonnes in July. If prices remains at Rs 4,000/100kg, farmers will rush to sell their stocks in bulk as they have held back their crop due to lower prices, Mehta added. He assumes around 80 lakh bags (one bag=75kg) of current stocks of castor seed.
Harish Vyas, Royal Castor, Mumbai expects castor seed sowing area to decline by 10 per cent across the country as compared to last year.
Weather condition like, timely or untimely rainfall in key castor seed growing states may affect castor seed farming and farmers have also turned to other crops instead of growing castor, he said. wever, nothing can be assumed about new crop at this point as castor seed crop takes seven month and during this long period around six times picking is required, he added. In this way, how can one make an actual estimation of castor crop, he further added.
According to Vyas, castor seed stocks were around 10 lakh tonnes in the country till July 31,2015 and domestic demand for castor seed is poor presently and exports demand doesn’t seem above normal, however, if the prices of castor decline in near term, then, demand will accelerate but it doesn’t seem to happen as crude prices are lower.” In fact castor seed is high in demand when crude oil trades at $80-90/barrel.
Castor seed sowing will gain momentum after August 15, in those regions in Gujarat where fields are experiencing water logging or fodder crop, said Madan patel, a castor seed grower of Palanpur. Cotton crop is spoiled in large scale at some places where resowing is not possible, hence, farmers of Gujarat will prefer to cultivate castor seed instead of other crops in those area, he added. According to Madan Patel, castor seed sowing area will inflate in Kutch, Patan, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Mehsana, Palanpur and Surendranagar districts.
As per the agriculture department of Gujarat, castor seed sowing covered 29,000 hectares during the ongoing season as of August 3, 2015, while the acreage of the same crop in the corresponding period last year was at 1,88,400 hectares. Castor seed acreage in Rajasthan as of August 3, 2015 was 35,600 against 61,700 hectares in the same period a year ago. As on August 5, 2015, castor seed sowing area in Andhra Pradesh was 21,000 hectares while in the corresponding period last year it stood at 28,000 hectares.
It should be noted that 7.34 lakh hectares of land was under castor seed cultivation in Gujarat last year and the acreage of the same crop was at 2.13 lakh hectares in Rajasthan and 1.11 lakh hectares in Andhra Pradesh.
On the other hand, Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) estimated 10.27 lakh hectares of castor seed in year 2014-15 while government’s record was at 10.99 lakh hectares.
As per the SEA, castor seed output is estimated at 12.76 lakh tonnes this year while government’s estimate for sowing area is at 13.68 lakh tonnes.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau; +91-22-61391533)
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