Castor Meal, Seed & Oil

Castor is one of the highly commercialised oilseed. Unlike other oilseeds, it is non-edible one. It is sowed from July to October and harvested October onwards till April. India is the largest producer and exporter of castor oil, seeds and meal. Other large producers of castor bean are China and Brazil. The production of castor fluctuates because of weather conditions. The varieties of Western India are of small seeds whereas in Southern India one finds bigger seeds.

Castor seed is crushed to obtain oil and cake which is further sent to solvent extraction for removal of residual oil and to obtain castor meal. Castor meal is widely used as organic manure due to the presence of mainly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Its demand has been increasing day by day

as is evident from the export figure of India showing 65% increase in sales volume for year April07 - March08 compared with last year's figure.

Castor seed oil is though inedible is of great use for various industries like paints, lubricants, pharmaceutical, textiles, perfumeries etc. Thats why the biggest share in exports of castor products is that of castor oil. With India being the major producer of castor the country's farmers are surely going to benefit from its growing demand as its average prices have almost doubled up in last one year.

The commodity prices of castor seed is fluctuating due to its limited supply-demand scenario which puts the markets in the hands of stockists and speculators. Also the demand for castor oil plays a big role in its prices.

India have very limited exports of castor seed with Taiwan and U.S. being the major buyer whereas castor oil has markets worldwide with U.S. ,Europe and Asian countries being the major ones. Taiwan, South Korea & Singapore are the main markets for Indian castor meal.

Castor Prices

(Indicative Castor Commodity Prices in US$ PMT)

23 Oct - Castor Oil FSG- US$ 1265-1280 (Ex-Kandla, India)

The prices of castor oil has dropped by around 3% in last one week. The prices may fall further as Nov and Dec castor seed futures are 6 to 10% down from the current market prices. Castor meal of new crop is getting offered at US$ 100-102 pmt fob.

27th Aug - 125-127
The prices of castor meal almost remained on the same level.

18th Aug - US$ 125-127
The prices of castor meal this month has seen the down movement compared to last month mainly due to decline in export demand.

13th Aug - US$ 125-127
The castor meal prices remained almost on the same level.

5th August - US$ 125-127
Castor meal prices showed the decline this week compared to last week.