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Production of rice bran oil (RBO) holds immense potential in India considering the surge in paddy production at 150 million tonnes over the last 10 years.
According to The Solvent Extractors Association of India, the rice bran oil production in the country is currently at 9 lakh tonnes (lt) against the potential of 14.6 lt. There is an untapped potential of 5.6 lt.
Japan, Thailand, China, South Korea are amongst the leading countries producing rice bran oil.
B.V. Mehta, Executive Director, SEAI, told Business Line that increased production of rice bran oil would help bridge the shortage of edible oils in India when its full potential of 14-15 lt is exploited.
India, he said, imports about 100 lt of edible oil worth Rs 55,000 crore a year to bridge the gap between demand and supply of edible oils. With full exploitation of rice bran oil, the country could reduce its edible import bills by about Rs 3,000 crore a year.
Besides, the RBO production will give better realisation for paddy to the farmers. Rice bran is an oily layer in between the paddy husk and the white rice.
Various research studies have proved that this oil is good for health and protect the consumer from the danger of coronary heart diseases, diabetes and cancer and good for overall health, he added.
According to Mehta, India produces the best quality of rice bran oil and has emerged as the largest producer of this cooking oil. This has been attained following the efforts taken by the Association to encourage its use among the health-conscious consumers.
The SEAI had taken a six member delegation to Japan to study the latest technology in RBO processing.
With all these efforts, he said many RBO and blended RBO brands entered the market in the last few years and today India started producing the best quality of rice bran oil.
Until recent past, RBO produced in India was mainly used for soap manufacturing and production mix of vanaspati manufacturing. It was through the awareness programme of SEAI that this edible oil has become popular and accepted as health cooking oil, he said.
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