India’s rapeseed harvest, the world’s third-biggest, may fall 15 percent because of dryness followed by excessive heat, said agricultural meteorologist Gail Martell, head of Martell Crop Projections.
“A 15 percent reduction from last year seems possible with poor yields and reduced planted area,” Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin-based Martell said in an online report yesterday. “Rapeseed was ravaged by winter drought and heat stress in the top producing state, Rajasthan.”
Only China and Canada grow more rapeseed than India, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The oilseed is used to produce vegetable oil, animal feed and biodiesel.
The USDA last week cut its outlook for Indian rapeseed production in 2009-10 to 6.4 million metric tons, compared with 6.6 million tons forecast a month earlier and the prior year’s harvest of 6.7 million tons.
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