Castorseed crop production is set to jump 34 per cent to 14.3 lakh tonnes on expected record - 37 per cent increase in yield at 1,738 kg per hectares against last year.

Commissioned by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), Indian Agribusiness Systems Ltd - also known as Agriwatch, conducted a field crop survey at the castor growing regions of the country in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The survey numbers exceeded the first advanced estimate of castor crop by the Central Government, which stands at 13.96 lakh tonnes for 2017-18.

After higher crop estimates, castor seed futures tumbled on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) by about 2 per cent on Monday to trade at Rs 4,130 per quintal.

The survey revealed that the area under castor increased by a tad 2.9 per cent from 7,99,540 hectares in 2016-17 to 8,22,790 hectares as per the State governments' estimates for the 2017-18 kharif season.

The largest castor growing state, Gujarat, reported 5.3 per cent increase in the sowing area to 5,95,600 hectares against 5,64,400 hectares reported last year. Production in the State is estimated at 12.21 lakh tonnes, which is about 42 per cent higher over last year's estimate of 8.61 lakh tonnes. The yield is expected to be 34 per cent higher at 2,050.23 kg per hectare in the State.

The increase in area is attributed to crop rotation, expectation of higher price and lower cost of cultivation, Agriwatch stated.

Notably, previous year's crop survey was conducted by market research player, Nielsen India.

However, castor area in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have reported a drop. Castor acreage in Rajasthan is estimated to fall by about 8 per cent to 1,81,000 hectares from 1,42,460 hectares last year. The same is likely to be lower by about 20.5 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at 58,190 hectares against last year's estimate of 73,180 hectares.

"The major reasons for decrease in area are crop shift, falling yield and pest attacks last year... and expectation of lower price this year," Agriwatch stated in its crop estimate released during the Global Castor Conference 2018 in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

Atul Chaturvedi, President, SEA, stated, "Our analysis based on the government numbers show that as on January 2018, we have carry-in stock of 13 lakh tonnes. Considering the first advanced estimate of the government, we expect the total availability would be around 27 lakh tonnes. And considering the total disappearance of 19 lakh tonnes, during 2018, there will be carry-out of 800,000 tonnes."

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