Industry officials predicted that favorable weather in major producing states and an increase in planted area would cause India’s output of mustard and rapeseed to soar to new heights in 2024. Increased production of rapeseed will assist the largest importer of vegetable oils in the world in reducing the amount of costly imports of soy, palm, and sunflower oils. Farmers have planted more rapeseed in more areas.
India produced 11.5 million metric tons of rapeseed in 2022–2023 and could generate up to 500,000 tons more this year. The weather was favorable until last week, but now that it’s becoming warmer, there are worries about a heatwave that could cause crops to mature earlier than expected and cause seed sizes to shrink.
Rapeseed prices are currently below the government-set floor price of 5,650 rupees per 100 kg and may drop further lower until the government increases procurement. India imports palm oil, soybean oil, and sunflower oil from Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Ukraine, and Russia to supply more than 70% of its domestic cooking oil needs.
New Delhi stated that rapeseed crushing would increase starting in April and that increased oil supplies would restrict the import of vegetable oils.
