Oilseeds growers set to reap double bonanza

At the start of the kharif season, farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh had talked of cutting their coverage of oilseeds. Higher imports and inventories, too, threatened to affect oilseeds sowing. Then, there was no inkling of the emerging global supply scenario with Russia suffering one of its worst droughts, and La Nina, which brings in bountiful rain, affecting palm oil production in Malaysia. Also, no one had given a thought about the southern States, the worst-affected last year due to drought. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka experienced good rainfall from June, encouraging farmers to go in for early sowing. Thanks to the high prices for oilseeds such as groundnut and sesame, farmers in these States went in for these crops or castor on a largescale. Elsewhere in Madhya Pradesh, farmers still gathered courage to sow soyabean despite high inventories. The end result, oilseeds acreage increased to 175.49 lakh hectares (lh) this kharif against 174.43 lh last year. In turn, the output of nine kharif oilseeds is projected to be 172.7 lakh tonnes (lt) against 156.6 lt last year. Though the acreage has increased only marginally, the weather pattern this year has ensured better yield. Arrivals are yet to pick up in most oilseeds as the harvest has been delayed but the 200 lakh tonnes oilseeds inventories seen at the start of the kharif sowing has been reduced to 5-6 lakh tonnes. Thanks to rising demand for oilmeals, inventories are vanishing fast. Demand for soyameal in particular has increased in South-East Asia and the Far-East following drought in Russia. In October alone, oilmeals exports increased 61 per cent. Soyabean production is likely to be 101 lakh tonnes this year. There have been problems in certain parts of Madhya Pradesh such as Indore, Bhopal and Dhar and Sikaur due to last minute rains. But production in other parts of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra are set to make up. According to the Agriculture Ministry, groundnut production is likely to be higher at 56.4 lt (36.6 lt) and that of soyabean at 98.1 lt (100.5 lt). No major variation is likely in soyabean production. There may be 2-3 per cent change due to the late rain. But it would be over 100 lt. Though domestic edible oil prices have dropped from the highs seen in September, they are still higher than rates that prevailed during the same period a year ago. For example, groundnut oil (loose) is currently ruling at Rs 725 for 10 kg against Rs 635 a year ago. Similarly, soyabean refined oil is ruling at Rs 570/10 kg against Rs 430 a year ago. With global prices for vegetable oils ruling near two-year high, chances of oilseeds farmers getting better prices are bright. In fact, it will be a double bonanza, higher output and higher price for Indian oilseed growers. With domestic prices reflecting global rates, farmers could be assured of good returns, he said. Currently, soyabean is ruling at Rs 2,250 at the mandis, the same as last year. However, in Karnataka groundnut output is expected to fall about 50,000 tonnes short the 6.5 lakh tonnes target. Sunflower output has been pegged at 80,000 tonnes against a target of 2.25 lakh tonnes. Sunflower production is likely to be half of last year since farmers shifted to other crops.