Castorseed coverage likely to gain this year at cumin’s cost

Castor prices are up by at least ₹500 a quintal from a year ago and are ruling around ₹6,500
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ROY CHOWDHURY A

The area under castorseed will likely gain this year, with cumin (jeera) farmers likely to shift to the oilseed due to its prices ruling at record highs, trade and industry sources said.

“Farmers who planted cumin and coriander last year are shifting to castorseed this year as prices are ruling at higher levels, which farmers have not seen before,” said Ankit Agarwal, Director at Erode-based Amar Agarwal Food India Ltd. 

“Castor sowing is likely to hit the area under cumin in the coming rabi season, as attractive castor prices near all-time highs encourage farmers to expand acreage. Sowing has begun in Gujarat and is expected to rise by 15–18 per cent this season,” said Biplab Sarma, senior research analyst, AgriWatch. 

Area up 38%

“Castor gaining acreage from cumin is a possibility. Farmers will shift because castor prices are higher and cultivation costs are lower too,” said Jagdeep Grewal, CEO of Shriji Agri Commodity Pvt Ltd.

According to Agmarknet, an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture, castor prices are up by at least ₹500 a quintal from a year ago and are ruling around ₹6,500. In contrast, cumin prices are down to around ₹15,000 a quintal against nearly ₹25,000 a year ago.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture on Monday showed that the area under castorseed increased to 1.79 lakh hectares (lh) compared with 1.29 lh a year ago as of August 4. The normal area under castorseed is 9.65 lh. Sowing of cumin begins after October.

The third advance estimate of the Ministry of Agriculture pegged castorseed production in 2024-25 lower at 17.30 lakh tonnes (lt) compared with 19.59 lt in 2023-24.

Coriander prices surge

BV Mehta, Executive Director, Solvent Extractors Association of India, said castorseed prices are expected to rule firm over the next couple of months. “Stocks are expected to be low, and this will keep prices strong,” he said.

Agarwal said the shift in sowing trend has seen coriander prices surging to ₹7,900 a quintal from ₹6,700 two months ago. 

Sarma said as castor and cumin compete for the same land in Mehsana, Banaskantha and Patan regions, besides others, a shift toward castor could reduce cumin acreage, potentially supporting its prices in the medium to long term.

Grewal said cumin and castor are grown on different lands in Rajasthan, though in Gujarat, there are regions where the crops compete for the same land.

Arrivals down 10%

Castor prices will likely rule between ₹5,500 and ₹5,700 at the time of harvest (December 2025 to January 2026), said the Agricultural Market Intelligence Centre (AMIC) in the Department of Agricultural Economics, College of Agriculture, Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University in Hyderabad. 

Sarma said cumin arrivals at Gujarat’s Unjha mandi (agri-terminal market) were 22.93 bags (50-kg each) during the first half of 2025, down about 10 per cent from a year ago. Though cumin exports increased by 12 per cent to 19,720 tonnes in April compared with March, they were, however, lower by over 90 per cent year-on-year. 

According to AMIC, the area under castor in 2024-25 declined to 8.28 lh from 10.41 lh in 2023-24. Gujarat topped the acreage with 5.6 lh, followed by Rajasthan at 1.09 lh. 

Published on August 5, 2025