The Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India has requested the Union Commerce Ministry to discourage the export of castorseed from India to protect the domestic industry.

In a letter to Piyush Goyal, Union Commerce Minister, Atul Chaturvedi, President of SEA, said that China has been aggressively buying commodities during the last few months to bolster its state reserves.

“We understand they are also targeting to buy big quantities of castorseed from India. Traditionally, China buys castor oil and derivatives from India, but this new found interest in looking to buy castorseeds has huge ramifications for our domestic industry as they may be starved for raw material,” he said.

Stating that India supplies almost 85-90 per cent of the world’s requirement of castor oil and its derivatives, he said India has a very well developed processing industry. Indian exports of castor oil touch almost ₹6,000 crore per annum, and processing industry provides employment to a large number of persons both directly and indirectly.

Mentioning that all oilseeds, including castorseed, are freely exportable in the current export policy, Chaturvedi said China may take advantage of this policy to buy castorseed from India to crush at their end. This will deprive the domestic crushing industry of value addition, capacity utilisation, and loss of export market.

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