NCDEX claims 90 pc share in castor seed futures

Rajkot, Feb 17 (PTI) National Commodity and DerivativesExchange (NCDEX) has claimed to have sharply increased itsmarket share in castor seeds futures from 25 per cent to 90per cent over the last four months.

Talking to media persons here, Uma Mohan, head, productsNCDEX said that the market share of the exchange in castorseed has risen from 25 per cent in October 2010 to about 90per cent in February this year.

She said on December 9, the NCDEX futures contractrecorded highest incremental open interest of 17,510 MetricTonnes.

India is a large producer of castor seed having around80 per cent share of would production while Gujarat accountsfor 86 per cent share in domestic production followed byAndhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.

However Suresh Devani, exchange''s western region headexpressed fear of fall in production of castor seed in Gujaratduo to unseasonal rains and said the estimated arrivalquantity during January was to be around 75,000 bags per dayto meet their crushing capacity but apparently the arrivalshave been only around 40,000-50,000 bags per day.