08.02.2013 Views

Market Prospects for Groundnut in West Africa COMMON FUND ...

Market Prospects for Groundnut in West Africa COMMON FUND ...

Market Prospects for Groundnut in West Africa COMMON FUND ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Considered an ‘aflatox<strong>in</strong>-prone’ country of orig<strong>in</strong>, India is currently<br />

uni<strong>for</strong>mly shunned by European importers. The Indian groundnut export<br />

market was largely devastated by the adoption of the EU regulations <strong>for</strong><br />

aflatox<strong>in</strong>. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to statistics from the Indian Oilseeds & Produce<br />

Exporters Association (IOPEA), from 1997/98 to 2001/02, Indian groundnut<br />

exports fell by nearly 50%; FAOSTAT figures are consistent with this<br />

estimate. Exports of Indian groundnut to the EU are now limited to bird food<br />

usage (IOPEA 2003).<br />

<strong>Prospects</strong> <strong>for</strong> rehabilitation (or development) of the <strong>in</strong>ternational<br />

reputation of Indian groundnut, and its re-entry <strong>in</strong>to the European market are<br />

not very promis<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the <strong>for</strong>eseeable future. In the meantime, Indonesia<br />

currently absorbs much of the Indian export crop, as it is less expensive than<br />

groundnut of Ch<strong>in</strong>ese orig<strong>in</strong>.<br />

Regardless of the <strong>in</strong>ternational demand <strong>for</strong> Indian groundnut, production<br />

has <strong>in</strong>creased significantly <strong>in</strong> recent years, most recently <strong>in</strong> response to<br />

opportunities on the world market <strong>for</strong> groundnut oil, which peaked at $1,500<br />

<strong>in</strong> August 2003.<br />

It is estimated that as much as 92% of the Indian groundnut crop is<br />

crushed <strong>for</strong> oil, ma<strong>in</strong>ly to serve the domestic market. With the bumper<br />

groundnut harvest <strong>in</strong> 1993, and after an <strong>in</strong>terregnum of 40 years, India reentered<br />

the world market as a supplier of groundnut oil, <strong>in</strong> direct competition<br />

with Senegal and Argent<strong>in</strong>a, both of which suffered significant crop losses<br />

dur<strong>in</strong>g the current (2003/2004) harvest.<br />

Though the world groundnut oil price re-adjusted itself rapidly with the<br />

re-emergence of India as a supplier (down to $1,170 by January 2004), this<br />

level is still significantly better than the domestic price. Fortunately <strong>for</strong> Indian<br />

producers, the export of over 50,000 MT of oil effectively protected the<br />

domestic price structure from crash<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> response to the 2003 bumper<br />

harvest (Ganguli 2004).<br />

3.6 Vietnam<br />

Vietnam accounts <strong>for</strong> 8.2% of world shelled groundnut exports, most of which<br />

are dest<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>for</strong> Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philipp<strong>in</strong>es and Japan. Although<br />

some groundnut of Vietnamese orig<strong>in</strong> has recently reached the US market<br />

under Pacific Rim trade agreements, it is rather scarce on the European<br />

market.<br />

21

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!