Poor carryover stocks in major mandis and strong export demand for castorseed oil cake strengthened castorseed futures on Wednesday. Demand for crushing has brought down stocks in mandis to 1-1.5 lakh tonnes compared with 2 lakh tonnes a year ago, said traders.

The December contract gained Rs 46 to Rs 4,160 a quintal with an open interest of 6,390 lots on the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, while January increased by Rs 93 to Rs 4,075 with an open interest of 5,580 lots.

On the Rajkot Commodity Exchange, December castor improved by Rs 44 to Rs 4,014 a quintal and March by Rs 68 to Rs 3,813. Spot castor gained Rs 60 at Rs 4,030 a quintal on the exchange.

While about 17,000-18,000 bags arrived in Gujarat and sold at Rs 810-825 a 20 kg, 1,300-1,400 bags arrived in Saurashtra and fetched Rs 755-792 for 20 kg.

Mounting export demand for castor oil and castorseed oil cake also supported the rise in prices. According to the latest release from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India, export demand for castor oil during April-October was at 2.63 lakh tonnes, up 2 per cent from the year-ago period mainly due to strong demand from China and West Asia. Exports of castorseed oil cake during April-November were at 2.06 lakh tonnes, up 114 per cent from the year-ago period due to demand from South Korea and Taiwan.

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