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

Key growing regions:

1. Gujarat – Deesa, Mehsana, Banaskanth, Patan, Palanpur
2. Rajasthan – Pali, Jodhpur, Hanumangarh
3. Andhra Pradesh – Kurnool, Rangareddy
4. Telangana – Mahbubnagar, Warangal

Production trend and Stock position:

• According to Ministry of Agriculture, the sowing acreage of Castor seed as on August 14, 2020 was 4.18 lakh hectares (lh) up by 9.14 percent compared to 3.83 lh during the corresponding period.
• According to Government of Gujarat, the sowing acreage as on August 17, 2020 was 3.80 lakh hectares (lh) up by 10.14 percentage compared to 3.45 lh in the corresponding period.
• As per the Ministry of Agriculture third advance estimate released on May 15, 2020, Castor seed production was 1.20 million metric tonne (Mn MT) compared to FY 2018-19 which was 2.06 Mn MT, up by 72.10 percent.
• Stock positions of Castor Seed were up by 7.86 percent held at National Commodity Clearing Limited (NCCL) approved warehouses at Bhabhar, Deesa, Kadi and Patan locations. The stocks held as on July 16, 2020 was 13,884 MT compared to 14,975 MT as on August 20, 2020

Monsoon update:

For the country as a whole, Seasonal cumulative rainfall during this year’s southwest monsoon season upto August 12, 2020 was above Long Period Average (LPA) by 1%. Details of the rainfall distribution over the four broad geographical regions of India are given below:

Table 1: Seasonal Rainfall Scenario for Monsoon Season of 2020 from June 1 to August 12, 2020

Market commentary: Price outlook

• Castor Seed prices are likely to trade steady to firm in immediate / short term.
• Two reasons as to why there has been a slag in Castor seed prices, one because of good prices of competing crops and second higher minimum support price (MSP) declared by the government for food crops.