India: leader in castor

Castor oil is used in a wide variety of industrial applications but although India is the world's leading producer and exporter of the oil, it is failing to capitalise on this position by producing value-added derivatives

Guttarla Nagaraj

India is the world's largest producer and exporter of castor oil, and castor is the most important non-edible oilseed crop in the country.

The castor seed is drought tolerant and and is grown in arid and semi-arid regions where annual rainfall can be 50-70cm. Under rain-fed conditions, the yield is low at around 1 tonne/ha while under irrigated conditions, it can reach up to 3 tonnes/ha or more.

Castor is cultivated in 30 countries on a commercial scale, with Brazil, China,

Ethiopia, India, the Philippines, Russia and Thailand accounting for nearly 88% of global production.

However, India alone accounts for 65% of worldwide castor oil production and over 87% of global exports.

Castor is grown over an area of about 1M ha in India with a production of around 1.7-2M tonnes. The major castor producing states in India are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha.

Exports

India exports castor oil to over 134 countries, with exports in 2020/21 valued at US$622.64M.

China, France, the Netherlands, South Korea and the USA account for more than 78% of total castor oil exports from India, taking in US$487.32M worth of castor oil in 2021/21.

China is the largest market for Indian castor oil, importing US$279.14M worth of product in 2020/21. This was followed by the Netherlands (US$71.34M), France (US$57.6M), USA (US$55.87M) and South Korea (US$23.37M) .

Castor oil was one of India's top

10 items exported to China for two consecutive years in 2012 and 2013, worth around US$320M, which accounts for around 35% of India’s total castor oil exports.

Increasing applications in China and Brazil are factors behind India's growing exports of castor oil and derivatives, which are currently estimated at around US$800M, with China, Europe, Japan and Thailand among its top destinations.

Growing international demand has fuelled castor oil exports but the National Multi-Commodity Exchange of India (NCME) says that India is not a price setter in the global castor oil market due to its poor infrastructure and lack of value addition.

It is estimated that India produces around 800,000 tonnes of castor oil and ships over 60% of total oil production to other countries.

At the same time, the NCME says that India has to import castor oil-formulated products and derivatives at a much higher price than the oil due to a lack of manufacturing facilities for value-added products. If facilities to produce castor oil derivatives are set up, this could help India