Castor futures declined on Wednesday as market participants and shippers booked profits on projections of a record crop this season to October. Prices of spot castor moved up marginally.
On the Rajkot Commodity Exchange (RCX), castor March contract declined by Rs 43 to Rs 3,679 a quintal. RCX on Wednesday launched new June contracts and it ended at Rs 3,745 a quintal. Spot RCX castor, however, moved up by Rs 25 to Rs 3,807.50 for 100 kg.
On the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange, March contracts dropped by Rs 61 to Rs 3,863 a quintal, with an open interest of 13,370 lots, while April contracts declined by Rs 85.50 to Rs 3,807 with an open interest of 4,670 lots.
About 35,000-37,000 bags of castor arrived in Gujarat and the price was Rs 760-770 for a
A study conducted by Nielsen for the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) has estimated a record castor seed production of 1.61 million tonnes (mt) for 2011-12 season (November-October), showing a 30 per cent growth over 1.25 mt recorded last year.
In its Castor Crop Survey, SEA said that the total area under castor crop for 2011-12 increased by 34 per cent over last year to 1.15 million hectares.
Gujarat is the main contributor to the rise in acreage and production. The area in Gujarat has increased 44 per cent this year, while production is seen up 36 per cent.