Faced with lower production in the last season ending June in Tamil Nadu, gingelly oil extracting units here, a major producing centre of the edible oil in the state, are procuring the seeds from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
The cultivation of gingelly crop in the state was affected due to adverse weather conditions. As against normal arrival of four lakh bags (each 75 kg) of gingelly during April-June season, this year only 1.5 lakh bags were received by the crushing units, Erode Gingelly Oil Merchants Association Secretary R B S Thangavel told PTI today.
Stating that the crushing units were depending on arrivals from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal due to shortage of the produce, he said the oil content of the crop from these states was lesser compared to the crop raised in Tamil Nadu.
While 44 kg of gingelly oil could be extracted from 75 kg of the crop in Tamil Nadu, the units had to crush 100 kg of seeds grown in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal for the same output, he said. The units crushed around 2,000 bags daily.
This had resulted in an increase in the production cost, leading to hike in the price of the oil to Rs 100, which was Rs 30 more than the last year's price.
He appealed to farmers to step up cultivation of white gingelly, which fetched premium price.
