September 28, 2009

India's summer-sown oilseed output is likely to fall by 5 percent on the year to 13.1 million tonnes due to a smaller groundnut crop but late rains have brightened the prospects of the winter-sown oilseed crop, a senior industry official said Friday (September 25).

 

India's monsoon rains are crucial to summer-sown and winter-sown crops as 60 percent of the farmlands are rain-fed. While long dry spells are expected to dampen summer-sown crop output, late rains are expected to improve yields of the winter crop.

 

India imports nearly half its annual requirement of about 15 million tonnes of vegetable oils from Argentina, Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia.

 

"The decrease in groundnut output is likely to impact the overall summer-sown oilseed production, Govindlal Patel, managing partner of Dipak Enterprise, said.

 

The area under oilseed cultivation during the June 1-Sept. 17 period fell to 16.7 million hectares from 17.9 million hectares a year earlier due to deficient rain.

 

The summer-sown groundnut output in 2009-10 is likely to be 3.2 million tonnes compared with 4.2 million tonnes a year earlier, he said.

 

"The area under groundnut crop is down by 10 percent in the largest producing state of Gujarat, which is likely to affect the total output of the groundnut in the country," Patel said.

 

India's annual monsoon rains, which have been 22 percent below the 50-year average, has been erratic and scanty between June and mid-August affecting crop sowing and productivity.

 

While the area under summer-sown groundnut fell by 15.7 percent to 4.3 million hectares from 5.1 million, area under soy remained instead at 9.5 million hectares.

 

However, the soy crop is likely to be higher at 9 million tonnes compared with 8.5 million tonnes a year earlier. Recent rains in late August and early September have improved the prospect for the soy crop, he said.

 

Output of other oilseed crops such as sunflower, sesame and niger seeds are also likely to be lower, Patel said.

 

Recent rains have also improved the prospects of major winter-sown rapeseed and groundnut crops. The area under rapeseed is likely to increase by 500,000-700,000 hectares, Patel said.

 

The area under rapeseed crop last year was 6.6 million hectares.

 

"As rapeseed requires less rain, the area is likely to increase and the yield prospects will depend on weather conditions," Patel added.

 

The winter sown groundnut crop may increase by as much as a fifth to 1.8 million tonnes from 1.5 million tonnes last year.