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Castor seed prices spurted by Rs 84 to Rs 4,493 per quintal in futures trade today as investors accumulated exposures backed up by positive physical market sentiments.
At the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange platform, castor seed delivery for the most traded second contract August shot up by Rs 84 or 1.91 per cent to Rs 4,493 per quintal, with an open interest of 1,17,630 lots.
Castor seed prices recovered by Rs 21 to Rs 4,260 per quintal in futures trade on short-covering by participants at existing levels induced by encouraging physical cues.
At the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, castor seed delivery for August improved by Rs 21, or 0.50 per cent, to Rs 4,260 per quintal in a business turnover of 86,280 lots.
Castor seed prices spurted for the second straight session, adding 1.89 per cent to Rs 4,269 per quintal in futures trade on unabated accumulation of holdings by the investors, spurred by strong physical leads.
Market players said, investors were indulged in enlarging holdings, driven by upbeat physical markets sentiment, boosting the castor seed futures prices.
Castor seed prices slipped by Rs 13 to Rs 4,233 per quintal in futures trade on cutting down holdings by the participants depressed by negative physical markets sentiments.
Market players attributed the decline in castor seed futures prices to slackness in demand for soap, paint and lubricant industries amid mounting of stocks on relentless supplies from producing areas in the spot markets.
Castor seed prices rose by 0.51 per cent to Rs 3,916 per quintal in futures market today as speculators raised their bets, taking positive cues from spot market on pick-up in demand.
At the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, castor seed for delivery in July was trading higher by Rs 20, or 0.51 per cent to Rs 3,916 per quintal with an open interest of 1,05,650 lots.
Castor seed prices were marked higher by Rs 10 to Rs 3,982 per quintal in futures trade as operators created fresh positions, driven by strong trends at the physical markets.
Marketmen attributed the rise in castor seed futures prices to building up of fresh positions by speculators, tracking a firm trend at the spot markets on the back of rising demand from paint, soap and other consuming industries.
Soweto-born Thabang Mabapa who uses science to extract oil from castor oil seeds says that his project has the ability to replace fossil fuel and help to save South Africa’s energy crisis.
Mabapa registered his own company, Selokong Sa Dimelana (SSD) which farms castor seeds and processes them to become castor oil and biodiesel.
SSD was founded and secured 1000 hectares of land for castor seed farming. SSD uses marginal land to farm the seeds and sell their biodiesel mainly to farmers. They also sell cold-pressed castor oil, as consumers use it mostly for cosmetic application, which helps us keep our biodiesel business sustainable.
Castor seed prices, which had largely remained bullish last year since the commodity resumed trading at the exchange in January 2017, have been weakening since the beginning of this year. From the current low, market expects some recovery in the coming months due to export demand.
In January 2017, when castor started trading again on the exchanges after one year, prices were around Rs 3,800 per quintal. The opening price of the contract was Rs 3,851 per quintal on National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange and Rs 3,832 per quintal on Multi-Commodity Exchange.
Due to lesser acreage, the production had come down last year. Lower remuneration due to subdued prices in the previous year and good monsoon had made farmers to shift to other crops like groundnut, mustard and soybean. The production came down to 1.06 million tonnes. Production, in fact, has been dropping for the previous 5 years from 2.2 million tonnes in 2011-12.
Leading chemical companies have empowered 1,019 Indian farmers in their journey to create a framework for sustainable castor bean production.
Arkema, a global leader in specialty chemicals and advanced materials; BASF, the world’s leading chemical company; Jayant Agro-Organics Ltd., a pioneer in castor oil based chemicals in India, and Solidaridad, an international civil society organization, came together for Project Pragati (Hindi word for progress).
With this first-of-its-kind initiative globally, the companies are developing a sustainable castor framework titled SuCCESS (Sustainable Castor Caring for Environmental & Social Standards).
Castor oil is a pale yellow vegetable oil that is extracted from castor seeds. Castor oil is mainly used in preservative, medicine, lubrication etc.
Asia Pacific is the largest consumer of castor oil and is expected to retain the higher growth rate during the next few years due to strong growth in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industry. China and India have witnessed a major chunk of the production and consumption of castor oil in the Asia Pacific region.
The castor oil market in Europe is growing on the back of rising demand of bio based cosmetic production, whereas the demand for castor oil in North America is driven by the strong consumption of biodiesel.
The worldwide market for Castor Oil is expected to grow at a CAGR of roughly 4.1% over the next five years, will reach 1500 million US$ in 2023, from 1180 million US$ in 2017.