Indian oilseed sowing rises, rice up on good rains

Tag : indian vegetable


India, the world's biggest vegetable oil importer after China,sowed oilseeds on 1.92 million hectares between June 1-26, up from1.84 million hectares in the same period a year ago, and analystssaid 2008 figures would pull further ahead.

A lull in the monsoon has slowed soybean sowing in Maharashtra butplanting is expected to rise substantially once rains revive,lifting overall oilseed acreage, said Shardul Sharma, an analystwith domestic brokerage Sharekhan.

Higher oilseed output will help India cut expensive imports of palmoil from Malaysia and Indonesia and soyoil from Brazil andArgentina. India imports around half of its annual domestic consumption ofabout 11 million tonnes of vegetable oils.

The government has already allowed imports of crude palm oil atzero duty and cut the levy on refined oils to 7.5 percent toprotect consumers from spiralling prices. Farmers plant summer-sown oilseeds like soybean, and groundnut andother crops such as rice, corn, cotton and sugarcane during themonsoon months of June and July. Summer crops are ready for harvestby September-October. Planting of soybean, the main summer-sown oilseed, fell to 811,000hectares up to June 26, from 996,000 hectares in the same periodlast year, the latest data released by the farm ministry showed.Monsoon rains in soybean growing areas have disappointed. But sowing of groundnut in the same period was at 904,000 hectares,sharply up from 506,000 hectares in 2007.

Helped by good monsoon rains, planting of rice in the country, theworld's second-biggest producer, was at 3.01 million hectaresagainst 2.84 million hectares a year ago. Sugarcane planting since June 1 fell marginally to 4.09 millionhectares from 4.74 million hectares in the same period last year.

Any fall in cane acreage is good news for sugar mills, strugglingto trim huge stocks from a record output of 28.4 million tonnes inthe last crop year to September 2007. Encouraged by rising prices, farmers planted corn on 889,000hectares from 641,000 hectares last year. Sowing of cotton reached1.50 million hectares against 1.54 million hectares.