Edible oil output to be around 11 mn tonnes in 2021-22: ICRA

With improvement in oilseeds production in the next five years, along with increase in yield, ICRA expects edible oil production to be around 11 million tonnes in 2021-22.

Production stood at eight million tonne (mt) in FY17, ICRA said. In line with output, the demand is also expected to increase to around 29 mt in FY22, from around 24 mt in FY17, the rating agency added.

This will result in a rise in import, expected to increase to around 16 million tonne in FY22, from around 14 mt in FY17. However, the report opined that the proportion of import in total consumption is expected to reduce to around 55 per cent from around 60 per cent.

ICRA said the government has been focusing on improving the production through various schemes and which has resulted in reasonable level of success in improving the yields. However, it added the increase achieved so far is much less than required and is mainly on account of factors like limited availability of quality seeds, inefficient infrastructure set-up and low economic incentives for farmers to shift to oilseeds production.

There is an urgent need to improve the seed supply chain to improve the availability and technical assistance to farmers along with infrastructure development for efficient and smooth functioning of the markets, it said.