Commodity Outlook – Castor Seed

agribazaar December 22, 2020

Sowing period: July to October
Harvesting period: December to March
Crop season: Kharif

Key growing regions:

Gujarat – Deesa, Mehsana, Banaskanth, Patan, Palanpur
Rajasthan – Pali, Jodhpur, Hanumangarh
Andhra Pradesh – Kurnool, Rangareddy
Telangana – Mahbubnagar, Warangal

Production trend and Stock position:

Stock positions of Castor Seed were down by 13.34 percent held at National Commodity Clearing Limited (NCCL) approved warehouses at Bhabhar, Deesa, Kadi and Patan locations. The stocks held as on December 17, 2020 was 11,210 MT compared to 12,935 MT as on November 18, 2020.
Castor sowing would be at disadvantage this season as farmers usually sow Castor when the rainfall is lower than average and this time monsoon had arrived at major Castor growing regions of Gujarat early as on June 14, 2020 according to India Meteorological Department (IMD), these pre-monsoon showers would have helped early sowing of other crops.
During sowing stage of Castor, the price realizations were low compared to other competing crops and higher minimum support price (MSP) were offered for other cash and food crops due to such dis-incentivising reasons the possibility of lower sowing of Castor this season is possible.

Monsoon Update

For the country as a whole, Seasonal cumulative rainfall during this year’s southwest monsoon season upto December 16, 2020 was above Long Period Average (LPA) by 5 percent. Details of the rainfall distribution over the four broad geographical regions of India are given below: