Category Archives: Castor – India

Prominent Indian Companies in Castor Oil and Castor Oil Derivatives Production

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This blog post provides a list of prominent companies in India producing castor oil and/or derivatives.

The major companies in castor oil and derivatives production are listed below.

Company Major Product
Jayant Agro Organics Castor Oil basic grades, Castor Oil Pale Pressed Grade, Castor Oil Neutralised Grade, Castor Oil Pharma Grade.
Gujarat Ambuja Exports Castor Oil and Castor Meal
NK Proteins All basic grades of castor oil, Ricinoleic acid, Hydrogenated Castor Oil (HCO), 12-HSA
RPK Agrotech Basic grades of castor oil, hydrogenated castor oil (HCO) and 12-HSA
Gokul Overseas Castor Oil basic grades , Hydrogenated Castor Oil, 12 HSA,Ricinoleic Acid
Adya Oil & Chemicals Ltd. Castor Oil basic grades, HCO, 12-HSA
Sree Rayalseema Alkalies & Chemicals Ltd. Castor Derivatives and Fatty Acids.
N.K. Industries Castor oil basic grades, Castor De Oiled Cake (D.O.C), Ricinoleic Acid (R.A.)
Amee Castor & Derivatives Hydroxyacetic Acid, 12 HSA, Cosmetic Grade 12 HSA, HCO,  Ricinoleic Acid

 

Production of Castor Seed – Global & India Production Status

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It is well known that India is the world’s largest producer of castor seed.

This blog post provides brief details of the castor seed production status for India and other main castor producing countries.

Castor Seed Producers 

Castor Seed Exporters

In the global sector, 85% of castor seed comes from India (which includes 76% from Gujarat, 13% from Andhra Pradesh, 9% from Rajasthan and 3% from other states), 7% from China and 2% from Brazil.

The following table provides an outline of production rates of castor seed by different countries over the period 2011-2014.

Country 2011-12(million tons) 2012-13(million tons) % of total in ‘11-12 and ‘12-13
India 1.57 1.14 79% & 76%
China 0.18 0.18 9% & 12%
Brazil 0.14 0.08 7% & 5%
Rest 0.12 0.10 6% & 7%

Castor Oil & Derivatives Global Trading

Castor Oil Importers

Main importers of castor oil and basic derivatives are

  • European Union (imports 100,000+ T annually)
  • China (imports over 100,000 T annually)
  • USA (imports 300,000-500,000 T per year)

Main importers of castor cake are South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Iran, and Thailand. A large percentage of imports of oil and cake are from India.

 

Castor Oil and castor Oil Derivatives Production in India

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This post provides details of castor oil and castor derivatives production in India.

Castor Oil Production

The castor oil production in India was 0.55 million tons in the year 2011-12 and 0.56 lakh tons in 2012-13.

Country 2011-12(million tons) % of world total 2012-13(lakh tons) % of world total
India 0.55 79% 0.56 82%

Castor Derivatives Production

The production range of various castor oil derivatives is given in the following table expressed in tons/annum (TPA).

 Castor Oil Derivative Name Installed Capacity TPA
Hydrogenated Castor oil 50,000
12-Hydroxy Stearic Acid 30,000
Dehydrated Castor Oil 17,500
Ricinoleic Acid (RA) and Methyl Ricinoleic Acid 6,500
Blown Castor oil (SCO) 2,500
Sebacic Acid 10,500
Undecylenic Acid and their Salts 2,500
Heptaldehyde 1,500
Ethoxylated Castor oil 3,000

Castor Farming in India – Structure, Constraints and Contract Farming

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Castor Farming Structure in India

In India, there are both independent farmers and contract farmers, but the significant majority comprises independent farmers. There are thousands of small, independent castor crop farmers in India, ownership ranging from just a couple of hectares to hundreds of hectares.

Constraints Faced by Indian Castor Farmers

The constraints reported by farmers include

  • Poor monetisation of their crop
  • Harvesting problems
  • Occurrence of pests and diseases

Castor Contract Farming in India

Even in contract farming, it has been seen that contract periods are not long duration, typically a couple of years.  However, some recent efforts are made by corporates to do contract farming in Gujarat, AP and Odisha.

It is observed that the cultivation of castor under contract farming is a profitable proposition under dry land condition, and estimates suggest that the returns are more remunerative than in the case of independent farming.

Castor Trade Logistics – Supply Chain and Distribution Channels for the Castor Seed and Castor Oil Industry

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Within India, the leading country for castor seeds and castor oil, the logistics and distribution for both seeds and oil follow some specific patterns.

This blog post provides more details on this aspect of the castor industry.

Distribution of castor seeds in India follows a particular process.

The process mentioned below is representative of a typical distribution of castor seeds in India.

  • Castor seeds are bought to the auction place from the farms
  • At the auction place, traders buy the castor seeds through an auction process. There are many traders who do this in each city
  • Then, there are a few large brokers who interact with the traders and who in turn are contacted by the crushers & refiners for purchase

The supply chain thus looks as follows:

castor

Pricewise, if X (Rs) is the price per Kg when it is auctioned, the price at which the crusher receives it is about 1.05 X (a 5% increase). This increase results by way of commissions to traders and brokers and for transport costs to the crushing unit.

Castor Seed Price Weekly Report:November 03-07, 2014

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CastorOil.in brings you the weekly report of castor seed price at NCDEX.

A steady fall in the price of castor seed is noticed during the week. The reason for this decline may be selling pressure from bear operators.

Check out the table and the graphical data.

Price Date
 Rupees per Quintal
03 Nov 4746.15
05 Nov 4722.8
07 Nov 4707.85

 
castor seed price weekly report
Source

India should be getting better prices for castor oil in world market…

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…Or at least that’s what this interesting article from The Hindu newspaper suggests.

The author G Chandrasekhar is certainly one of the few journalists in India clued in to the castor industry for a long, long time. I have seen him share his rich perspectives at some of the key global castor congress seminars, held usually in Ahmedabad. So you could say that his suggestions do carry significant data and research backup.

This is in essence what he says:

“…export prices do not adequately reflect the bargaining strength a near-monopolist can demonstrate, either. The current export rates of around $1300 a tonne free-on-board have the potential to sharply move up to, say, $1,700-1,800 a tonne; and the overseas market can absorb it.”

Now, you might hold an opinion that prices should be as low as possible to spur demand for an important commodity such as castor. At the same time, one cannot deny the logic that India is squandering the opportunity to make a few more $ from its position of strength. It is not as if we are ripping off the rest of world. The rest of the world is making excellent profits from the derivatives they make and sell from castor oil, so we (and our farmers) might as well get some of those profits as well….what do you say?

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Bargain Hunting Lifts Castorseed- 20 Mar, 2014

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Following increased demand at the lower level, castorseed futures moved up on Wednesday. According to market sources, expectation of demand in castor oil also supported the rise . Castorseed spot prices, however, declined on higher arrivals.

On the Rajkot Commodity Exchange, castorseed June contracts were up ₹28 at ₹4,313 a quintal. RCX spot castorseed decreased by ₹55 to ₹3,945 .

On the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, castorseed April contracts gained ₹19 at ₹4,240 with an open interest of 182,060 lots. NCDEX May contracts improved by ₹14 to ₹4,304 with an open interest of 62,370 lots.

A broker said that futures gained as prices dropped the previous day and at this level, there was some buying interest among traders on expectation of good demand in castor oil in coming days.

However, as arrival improved in the last few days, spot castorseed was under pressure. Castorseed arrival rose from 15,000-17,000 bags to 45,000-48,000 bags in Gujarat and prices declined by ₹10 to ₹790-800. About 3,500-3,600 bags arrived in Saurashtra and price declined by ₹15 to ₹750-775 for amaund of 20 kg. Castor oil remained steady at ₹835/10 kg.

Nova Synthetix and Precision BioSciences Announce Collaboration to Develop Non-GM, Ricin-Free Castor with Customizable Oil Content

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RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. — Nova Synthetix and Precision BioSciences, Inc., today announced that they have initiated a joint research effort to generate non-GM, ricin-free castor plants using Precision’s Directed Nuclease Editor (DNE) technology in combination with Nova Synthetix’s proprietary plant transformation system. Scientists at Nova Synthetix and Precision also plan to utilize their joint capabilities to generate improved castor variants capable of producing user defined oil profiles for industrial, biofuel, and feed-directed applications. The companies believe that the successful development of this multi-year research effort will address a significant agricultural need and result in a castor plant that is safer and has far greater market utility.

The need to replace petroleum-derived materials with sustainable, non-polluting alternatives is driving the 2.1 mm Mt/$4B biobased polymers market. Castor oil is used in many applications, including biobased nylons, a 0.2 mm Mt market growing at >25%/Yr. Nova Synthetix has developed a non-GM strategy to eliminate castor seed toxin (ricin) gene expression enabling the expansion of castor cultivation and improving castor-derived feedstocks availability. Ricin-free castor will also serve as a platform for “designer” oils for new biobased materials.

Some interesting links

Building Energy Analytics

Some Innovative & Unique Solar Power

Castor seed among top-traded counters on NCDEX

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With a crop size of just Rs 6,000 crore, castor seed is among the most traded commodities on India’s largest farm futurestrading platform, the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX).

Castor seed’s monthly turnover on the NCDEX is double the crop size due to high volatility and rising prices. There has been a spurt in trading interest over the last three months and in two of them it has been the most traded commodity on the bourse.

Guar used to be most traded commodity on the NCDEX but after curbs on excessive speculation, the counter lost sheen. Over the last year refined soya oil has been the most traded but in December-January castor seed provided over 20 per cent of the exchange’s volume. In February it fell to 15 per cent.
Data collated by the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the commodity market regulator,   showed castor seed contributed 27 per cent of the NCDEX turnover at Rs 104,549.87 crore in December 2013. “Castor seed is one of the more liquid contracts on the exchange. The increased turnover over the past three months reflects the underlying fundamentals.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/castor-seed-among-top-traded-counters-on-ncdex-114030800393_1.html