Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is cultivated around the world because of the commercial importance of its oil. India is the world’s largest producer of castor seed and meets most of the global demand for castor oil. India produces 8 to 8.5 lakh tonnes of castor seed annually, and accounting for more than 60% of the entire global production.

Because of its unlimited industrial applications, castor oil enjoys tremendous demand world-wide. The current consumption of Castor Oil and its derivatives in the domestic market is estimated at about 300,000 tonnes. India is also the biggest exporter of castor oil and its derivatives at 87% share of the international trade in this commodity.

Castor is an important non-edible oilseed crop and is grown especially in arid and semi arid region. It is originated in the tropical belt of both India and Africa. It is cultivated in different countries on commercial scale, of which India, China and Brazil are major castor growing countries accounting for 90 per cent of the world's production. Historically, Brazil, China and India have been the key producing countries meeting global requirements. However, in early 90’s, Brazilian farmers moved away to more lucrative cash crops, and surge in domestic demand in China made them net importers, leaving India to meet the global demand.

Castor crop needs a tropical type of climate to develop. That’s why the castor is largely found in the countries lying in the tropical belt of the world.

In India, Castor is planting season is during July or August and harvested around December or January. The seedpods are dried, de-podded and brought to the market yards during December or January for trading.

Traditionally, castor is a kharif season crop. Sowing of castor with onset of monsoon is found most beneficial in rained condition. However, sowing can be done up to first fortnight of August without reduction in yield under irrigated condition.

Indian Castor Seed Area, Production and Yield
Year	Area (000 ha)	Production (000 MT)	Yield (kg / ha)
2001-02	716	652	911
2002-03	583	428	733
2003-04	732	801	1094
2004-05	820	790	963
2005-06	948	970	1023
2006-07	810	800	987

Castor grows under tropical conditions. It loves heat and humidity and does best in regions where both are ample. India is gifted with an ideal climatic condition for castor seed.

Castor seed production during the past decade remained around 7 to 8 lakh tonnes. More than 9 lakh tonnes were produced in 2005-06, which was the highest during the decade. Prices fell in 2005. Thereafter the area under castor production declined, leading to drop in production in the following year.

The total production declined by about 19% during 2006-07 from about 9.9 lakh tonnes in the previous year. One may note that the area under production also declined by 15%. The average annual castor seed and castor oil prices declined during 2005.

State	Production( '000 MT)
State	2006-07	2007-08	% Change
Gujarat	494.81 (63%)	651.22 (72%)	32%
Rajasthan	135.24 (17%)	142.88(16%)	6%
Andhra Pradesh	113.57 (15%)	83.13 (9%)	-27%
Others	40 (5%)	32.63 (3%)	-18%
Total	783.62	909.86	16%

Gujarat is the leading state in castor seeds production in India followed by Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat contributed 71% of the total production of castor seed in India in 2007-08, followed by Rajasthan at 16%, Andhra Pradesh at 9% and other states sharing 4%.

Mehsana and Banaskantha is the largest castor producing districts in Gujarat. In Gujarat castor cultivation comes from 6 districts of North Gujarat, viz., Mehsana, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Patan and Kutch.

District	2006-07	2007-08	% Change
Banaskantha	108.77	165.72	52.36%
Gandhinagar	46.18	52.32	13.30%
Kachchh	94.25	88.29	-6.32%
Mahesana	54.21	77.61	43.17%
Patan	33	54.35	64.70%
Rajkot	12.42	18.65	50.16%
Sabarkantha	70.38	92.73	31.76%
Surendranagar	24.62	37.08	50.61%
Jamnagar	17.19	20	16.35%
Others	33.79	44.47	31.61%
Total	494.81	651.22	31.61%

District	2006-07	2007-08	% Change
Barmer	10.81	6.69	61.58%
Hanumanthgarh	32.03	11.86	170.07%
Jalore	39.53	60.07	-34.19%
Jodhpur	22.46	17.36	29.38%
Pali	2.09	4.98	-58.03%
Sirohi	21.58	33.77	-36.10%
Other	6.74	8.15	-17.30%
Total	135.24	142.88	-5.35%

District	2006-07	2007-08	% Change
Kurnool	4.07	2.47	64.78%
Mehabubnagar	68.77	48.14	42.85%
Nalgonda	26.38	21.3	23.85%
Rangareddy	4.83	3.56	35.67%
Others	9.52	7.65	24.44%
Total	113.57	83.12	36.63%

Castor seed is cultivated in various countries around the world that lie in the tropical belt of the world. The production of this crop is concentrated in the hands of a fewer countries and that is why the world production of castor and its derivatives is highly fluctuating. Any change in the trend of the production of any of those countries leads to change in the level of world production.

The world production of castor seed hovers around at an average of 12.5 lakh tons and of castor oil is 5.5 lakh tons. The major producer countries of castor are India, China and Brazil.

The top most country in the list is India with around 65% of the share in production followed by China with 23% and Brazil with 7% of share.

Since few years, the countries China and Brazil are having an increase in their domestic consumption demand and hence are consuming a greater share of their production and exporting lesser leaving India to be the dominant player in the international market.

Castor crop plays an important role in the agricultural economy of the earning substantial foreign exchange through export of castor beans and oils. India’s exports of castor oil and derivatives are estimated at over Rs.800 crores p.a. The global castor derivatives market is highly dependent on India. India’s export of castor oil and derivatives is 2.6 lakh tonnes in 2007-08.

India is the first country in the world to exploit hybrid vigour on commercial scale in this crop. Major markets include European Union, USA, Japan and now China and Thailand.

Though, India is a dominant player in the world market, it is just a price taker and not a price setter due to its poor infrastructure but it has the capability to improve on the exports of the derivatives of castor and overcome this limitation.

Castor is a plant that is commercially very important to the world. Castor seed oil cake is very useful manure to crops. It is a very good fertilizer alternative containing optimum levels of Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium which is suitable for cultivation of Paddy, Wheat, Maize and Sugarcane.

To derive the oil, the castor fruits are separated from the plant and allowed to dry for about 10-15 days. The dried fruit is split open from which castor seeds are obtained. These seeds are processed prior to extraction of oil. The seeds generally contain up to 48% oil and the rest becomes the part of oil cake.

Though India meets most of the world’s requirement of castor oil we are not capitalizing it. We still continue to export the oil rather than add value to it. We buy back our own castor oil as formulated products and derivatives at many times the price of the oil.

Castor Oil’s application range is very wide-the uses range from cosmetics, paints, synthetic resins & varnishes, to the areas of national security involving engineering plastics, jet engine lubricants and polymers for electronics and telecommunications.

Castor is a versatile, renewable resource having vast and varied applications such as lubricating grease, surfactants, surface coatings, telecom, engineering plastics, pharma, rubber chemicals, nylons, etc.

Castor oil and its derivatives find major application in soaps, lubricants, grease, hydraulic brake fluids and polymers and perfumery products.

The primary use of castor oil is as a basic ingredient in the production of nylon 11, jet engine lubricants, nylon 6-10, heavy duty automotive greases, coatings and inks, surfactants, polyurethanes, soaps, polishes, flypapers, lubricants, and many other chemical derivatives and medicinal, pharmaceutical and cosmetic derivatives.

The seeds and residual cake are highly poisonous and unless processed to remove the poisons cannot be fed to livestock. In some countries the cake is used as a fertilizer. Poisons contained in the cake include ricin.

Castor oil is obtained by pressing the seeds, followed by solvent extraction of the pressed cake. Castor Oil is one of the world’s most useful and economically important natural plant oils. India supplies 70% of the world’s requirements of castor oil. This oil is unique among vegetable oils and uniqueness is derives from the presence of a hydroxyl fatty acid known as ricinoleic acid (12- hydroxyl-cis-9-octadecenoic acid) which constitute around 90% of the total fatty acids of the oil. Castor Oil is also distinguished from other vegetable oils by its high specific gravity, thickness and hydroxyl value.

India is the largest exporter of Castor Oil. A major part of the castor oil produced in this country is exported and the value addition takes place in the importing countries.

The Indian variety of castor seed has an oil content of 48% and 42% can be extracted, while the cake retains the rest.

Castor oil is used either in its crude form, or in the refined hydrogenated form. Typically, 65% of it is processed. About 28% is refined, 12% is hydrogenated, 20% is dehydrated, and the balance 5% is processed to manufacture other derivatives. The major derivatives of Castor oil used in the industry –hydrogenated castor oil (HCO), Dehydrated castor oil (DCO), Sebacic acid etc.

The demand for castor oil derivatives is perennial in nature since they are indispensable to the manufacture of various products. Besides, as castor does not have a synthetic or any other alternative, it has an assured market.

Domestic demand of Castor Oil has unfortunately not kept pace with growth in castor seeds output. Developed economies are major user of castor oil.

The solvent extracted cake, although rich in protein cannot be used as cattle fodder because of its toxicity. However, it can be used as a fertilizer.

The protein content of castor seed meal varies from 21-48% depending upon the extent of decortications. It has an ideal amino acid profile with moderately high Cystine, mithionine, and isoleucin