Category Archives: Castor seeds

High Yield Castor Varieties in India

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While India currently average about 1 T/hectare per year for castor seeds, there is potential for much higher yield.

As part of the research to increase yields, efforts have been going on in India for high yielding varieties of castor.

The table below shows the various high yielding castor varieties produced by different states across India.

State Variety Hybrid
Andhra Pradesh Aruna, Bhagya, Sowbhagya, Kranti (PCS-4), Jwala, DCS-9
(Jyothi), Kiran (PCS-136), Haritha (PCS-124).
Uttar Pradesh Kalpi-6, T-3, T-4
Gujarat GAUC-1, VI-9, S-20, J-1andGCH 7 CH-1, GCH-2, GCH-3, GCH6, SHB-145, GCH-7 and(SKP 84 x SKI 215
Tamil Nadu TMV-1, TMV-2, TMV-3, TMV-5, SA-1, SA-2, TMV-4,Jyothi, CO-1 TMVCH-1and TMVCG*
Karnataka Jwala (48-1), RC-8, Jyothi
Maharashtra AKC-1, Girija GCH-6
Rajasthan GCH-6, RHC-1
Haryana CH-1
Punjab Pb. No.1
For all states Gujarat Castor-2 DCH-32 (Deepti)DCH-177 (Deepak)GCH-4, GCH-5, DCH 519
For entire country DCH 519 M 574 x DCS 78

Castor Production in Brazil

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Some key factoids on castor crop production in Brazil:

  • The castor-oil plant is an ideal crop for the extensive semi-arid region of northeast Brazil. It holds some four million hectares of appropriate land that could yield up to 6 million tons of seeds per year.
  • Brazil was a global leader in castor cultivation decades back. But there has been a significant reduction in castor cultivation in Brazil for some time. Now Brazil and China have started to show signs of expanding their production base. But the increases have not been significant enough.
  • Brazil has a National Biodiesel Strategy which proposes castor as one of the feedstocks for biodiesel production. Planting of castor is also being promoted especially in the north east.
  • Israel’s Evogene, which specializes in genetic modification of plants for industrial purposes, has signed a deal with Brazil’s Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) in Oct 2014 to develop technologies for the advancement of castor cultivation in Brazil.
  • The cooperation will focus primarily on technologies for controlling castor-specific diseases as well as practices for castor cultivation in rotation with soybeans.

See this post for details on quantum of castor crop production and castor seed yields in Brazil.

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.

 

Rajkot Castor Seed Future Close on July 24, 2014

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The speculative buying has rescued the castor seed future September contract from its early loss.

Castor seed ready price- Rs.4, 000 per quintal

Previous close- Rs.4, 012.50 per quintal

Castor seed futures per 100 Kilograms in Rajkot market, September contract

Open     4, 205

High      4, 224

Low       4, 161

Close     4, 216

Source: Reuters