Total kharif crop of nine major oilseeds is estimated at 168.3 lakh tonne for the season 2007-08 as against 134.5 lakh tonne last year, up 33.8 lakh tonne (25.1%), according to the Central Organization for Oil Industry & Trade (COOIT).
The estimate of kharif oilseeds crop and availability of vegetable oils for the new season was announced at the 45th All India Convention of Oilseeds, Oil Trade & Industry hosted by the COOIT at Nagpur on October 28, 2007.
As per the ministry of agriculture data, the acreage under oilseeds as on October 19, 2007 was up by 9.23 lakh hectares and estimated at 177.58 lakh hectares, against 168.35 lakh hectares last year.
The vegetable oil available from kharif oilseeds crop and the secondary source is estimated at 58 lakh tonne compared to 48.3 lakh tonne last year, up by 9.7 lakh tonne (20%).
The total imports of edible oils during November 2006 to October 2007 is estimated at 47.5 lakh tonne compared to 44.2 lakh tonne during the same period of last year, up 7%. Import of non-edible oils is estimated at 6.5 lakh tonne compared to 7.1 lakh tonne during the same period last year, down 8%. Import of vanaspati is estimated at 2.5 lakh tonne against 3 lakh tonne last year.
Total import of vegetable oils ? edible oils (47.5 lakh tonne), non-edible (6.5 lakh tonne) and vanaspati (2.5 lakh tonne) is estimated at 56.5 lakh tonne to the year ended October 2007 compared to 54.2 lakh tonne in 2005-06.
Apart from the total kharif estimate of nine major oilseeds, cottonseed oil production is expected to increase by 80,000 tonne over the last year.
The total production is estimated at 9.8 lakh tonne for the whole year. Rice bran oil production is likely to increase by 50,000 tonne and estimated at 8 lakh tonne during the whole year.