The Lipid Library

OILS AND FATS IN THE MARKET PLACE

MAJOR PRODUCING AND CONSUMING COUNTRIES
INDIA

India itself produces a wide range of oilseeds (soya, cotton, groundnut, sunflower, rape, sesame, copra, castor, and linseed) on 35.9 million hectares of land. The total crop is 29.8 million tonnes of which 24.7 million tonnes is crushed to provide 6.6 million tonnes of vegetable oil to which must be added some animal fats, particularly butter (2.0 million tonnes). Total production (8.8 million tonnes) falls short of requirements and oil imports (5.4 million tonnes) are mainly palm oil and soybean oil. Total consumption of almost 14 million tonnes is detailed in the Table. Four oils each exceed a million tonnes (palm, soya, rape and butter) and a further three each exceed half a million tonnes (cottonseed, groundnut, and sunflower).

In general, Indian oilseed yields are much below those recorded elsewhere. This is a consequence of difficult climatic conditions, particularly in respect of the annual monsoon rains, which are sometimes too little and sometimes too much for optimum yields. Another factor is the poverty of many Indian farmers who have to economise on irrigation facilities, fertiliser, pesticides, and seed quality.

Per person consumption for food and industrial purposes was 11.9 kg/person/year. This figure is well below the world average (23.0 Kg/person/year) and has stayed in the range 11.0 to 11.9 in the last six years (2001/02 to 2006/07). However, the figure for food consumption will be higher by virtue of the consumption of oils such as rice bran oil not included among the normal range of commodity oils.

Table 1. India 2006/07. Area under oilseed cultivation (million hectares). Production of oilseeds and of oils and fats and imports and total consumption of oils and fats, all in million tonnes.
	Oilseeds		-----   Oils and fats   -----
	Area	Crop	Production	Imports	Consumption
Soya	7.35	7.65	1.23	1.46	2.68
Cotton	9.27	9.15	0.84		0.83
Groundnut	5.90	3.50	0.77		0.82
Sunflower	2.30	1.38	0.46	0.18	0.64
Rape	6.15	5.80	2.31		2.34
Sesame	1.75	0.67	0.13		0.13
Copra	1.88	0.62	0.39		0.40
Castor	0.75	0.78	0.33		0.08
Linseed	0.55	0.20	0.06		0.07
Palm				3.55	3.58
Palmkernel				0.15	0.15
Butter			2.01		2.02
Tallow			0.17		0.17
Other	1.05	0.22	0.10	0.03	0.04
Total	35.95	29.77	8.80	5.37	13.95
Groundnut is called peanut in some countries; 24.72 million tonnes of the oilseeds are crushed to produce oil and meal. Exports of oilseeds (0.29 mt) and of oils and fats (0.30, mainly castor) and imports of oilseeds (0.03 mt) are negligible.

Updated: 2/5/2008 Credits/disclaimer	Scottish Crop Research Institute (and MRS Lipid Analysis Unit), Invergowrie, Dundee (DD2 5DA), Scotland