Jayant Agro: Castor Crop Survey 2010-2011 SEA

Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) has conducted a crop estimation survey with Nielson India conducting the survey on behalf of SEA.

- Total area under Castor crop in India year 2010-11 is 8.59 lakh hectares. It has increased by 14% as compared to previous year.

- Estimated Castor Seeds in India for the year 2010-2011 is 11.90 lakh tonnes. It has increased by 22% as compared to previous year.

- Average yield for 2010-11 is 1385 kg/hectare as against 1297 kg/hectare during the year 2009-10. Yield has increased by 7% as compared to previous year.

All India State-wise data.

As can be seen Gujarat is the 800 pound gorilla in the castor space.

Gujarat State Castor crop data

- Total area under Castor crop for 2010-11 is 4.83 hectares, an increase of 10% as compared to previous year.

- Estimated total production of castor seeds in Gujarat for the year 2010-11 is 8.60 lakh tonnes, an increase of 17% compared to previous year.

- Average yield for the year 2010-11 is 1781 kg/hectare as against 1683 kg/hectare during the year 2009-2010

Gujarat District wise castor crop information

As can be seen "Banaskantha" is the largest castor growing district in Gujarat and Jayant Agro Organics has bought the Gujarat Agro Industries corporation limited plant located in Palanpur Gujarat. Palanpur is a city located in Banaskantha district. Ihsedu Agro Chem Private limited is the subsidiary company which is running the plant in Banaskantha. 

Ihsedu AgroChem has increased its seed crushing capacity to 360,000 MT (Year 2010-210,000 MT) Ihsedu AgroChem for year ending March 2011 had sales of 279Cr and a net profit of 6.97Cr

Coincidentally Jayant Agro Organics March 2010 standalone profits was 7.84Cr..  so Ihsedu AgroChem is growing by leaps and bounds and is the primary subsidiary company  contributing to profits for Jayant Agro for the year 2010-11.

Conclusion: Most of the earnings growth that we have seen in Jayant Agro's consolidated profits is related to the successful backward integration through Ihsedu AgroChem. Having the seed crushing plant in the largest castor seed growing district in Gujarat has been a winning combination. 

Ihsedu Speciality Chemicals Pvt limited has not yet been able to stabilize its production problems. The promoters have acknowledged the problem. The plant which was being sourced from china but in technical consultation with Mitsui seems to be facing problems. As per my understanding "Sebacic Acid" production is being done in India in pvt held companies.. so its a complex product to produce but not an impossible product.

Jayant promoters also have a patent filing for efficient process of producing Sebacic acid (Link) .. so looks like more of an implementation issue. We need to better understand what exactly is the problem and steps being taken to overcome the problem.

Solvent Extractor's Association Report for castor production (Link)

National Multi-commodity Exchange of India Limited Castor Study (Link)

Karvy Castor Seed Report (Link)

Jayant Agro Blog Archives (Link)