Indian rapeseed planting to hit record high due to favourable weather and Chinese demand

edible oil – limit costly overseas purchases of cooking oils, the 5 November report said. “Farmers made great profits from last year’s rapeseed crop, so this year, they’re planting even more of it,” Anil Chatar, a leading trader based in Jaipur in the northwestern state of Rajasthan, was quoted as saying. The combined planting area for rapeseed and mustard – a closely related crop – was expected to increase by 7% to 8% this year, he said. Indian farmers typically plant rapeseed in October and November. To date, they had planted 4.17M ha this year, a 13.5% increase compared to the same time the previous year. The country planted 8.93M ha of rapeseed last year, higher than the five-year average of 7.9M ha, the report said. Domestic demand for rapeseed oil had been good this year, while strong export demand for rapeseed meal had come from China, B V Mehta, executive director of Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) was quoted as saying. China had increased rapeseed meal ...