Covid-19: Edible oil refineries halve operating capacity over seed shortage

Delay in import clearance also drives curtailment

Edible oil refineries across the country have reduced their operating capacity to 40-50 per cent due to non-availability of raw materials following delay in clearance of imported crude oil consignments and oilseeds supply disruptions on lockdown of spot Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis to prevent spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).

This has fostered instability in the prices of both, oilseeds and oils in the futures markets following their disconnect from the prevailing trend in spot mandis. Prices of all edible oilseeds and oils remained highly volatile depending upon their fundamentals, with soybean and mustard seed moving in very wide ranges