Mustard Seed Sowing Spells 1MT Shortage

KOLKATA: Sowing mustard seeds in the ongoing rabi season appears to have been hit by a slow start. The first round of survey by the agriculture ministry suggests sowing of oilseed has so far been complete in 57.2 lakh hectares between October 1 and December 14 against a coverage of about 64.2 lakh hectares during the same period last year.

With oilseed sowing expected to finish next month, the edible oil industry fears that the acreage under mustard seed in the 2007-08 rabi season may be lower than the last season when a total of 72 lakh hectares were brought under oilseed cultivation.

Going pari passu with the early sowing trend, the oilseeds output in the current rabi season is also expected to fall by about 1 million tonne (mt) to 6 mt from the last year’s level of 7.1 mt, according to the preliminary estimate by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA). However, one thing is reassuring.

The market is yet to take cognisance of the early prediction. Rather banking on a considerable oilseed stock from the last year’s production, lying with the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and individual stockists and farmers, traders are still waiting to take a long term view on oilseed price.

According to industry sources, Nafed is still sitting pretty on a mustard seed stock of 3.5 lakh tonnes, which were procured by the federation over the last three years as part of its price support operation. And, there is still a steady flow of mustard seed supply for crushers from the old stock.

About 13-14 tonnes of mustard seeds still keep on arriving on a daily basis in its major mandis at Hapur, Delhi and Sirsa. This has prompted traders to maintain a stable outlook about mustard seed and the oil. The spot market price of mustard seed continues to remain bound within a range of Rs 463-Rs 485 per quintal over the last few days.

Interestingly, the recent flash shower in Rajasthan, raising hopes of some more coverage of the oilseed in the major growing state, has prompted traders to take a bearish view for short term futures contracts. Taking a bearish view, the February contract of mustard seed has ended lower by 8 points to Rs 460 per 20 kg on Wednesday.