The Hindu Business Line : Adani to set up castor oil refinery in Mundra

AHMEDABAD-based Adani Exports Ltd (AEL) is setting up a 350-tonnes-a-day castor oil processing refinery at the Mundra Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Gujarat.

The Rs 10,000-crore Adani group, whose flagship AEL is a golden super star trading house that exports over 40 commodities to over 55 countries, already accounts for almost 20 per cent of the total castor oil exports of about 1.60 lakh tonnes. (The golden super star is a status accorded to exporters by the Director General of Foreign Trade).

Talking to Business Line, Mr Rajesh Adani, Managing Director, AEL confirmed that his company was getting into castor oil production. The project was at a nascent stage and was likely to be commissioned sometime next year.

"This will be a backward integration for us, as we are already into castor oil export business. On the one hand, we will increase margins by this value addition, while on the other, we will ensure a diversified portfolio," Mr Adani said.

AEL will be looking at leveraging the incremental benefits that would accrue from the SEZ status that has been bestowed upon the Mundra Port. This is in line with the statement made by Mr Gautam Adani, Chairman of AEL at the company's recent AGM.

The company will continue to consolidate its position in its existing agro basket comprising of wheat, oil meals, maize, pulses, castor oil and focus its resources on broad basing its agro portfolio, thereby maintaining its position as a leading consolidator and mover of bulk cargo, he said.

The other major players in castor oil processing in the country are N. K. Proteins Ltd, Jayant Oil Mills and Jayant Agro-Organics. Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) is one of the major exporters of castor oil and its derivatives, though it is are not into production by itself.HLL is using production capacity of N. K. Proteins (Ahmedabad) for extracting and refining castor seeds and oil and manufacturers of castor oil based derivatives on contracts basis.

The crushing and processing capacities of major castor oil and derivatives processors in Gujarat are around 200 to 250 tpd individually. Hence, AEL would emerge as a major processor of castor oil and its derivatives, an industry source said.

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