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Low output may hamper rice bran oil usage

Kohinoor Mandal

KOLKATA, May 20

RICE bran oil may not become the most popular cooking medium in the country despite having good nutritious qualities as the prospects of increasing production capacity in future is bleak.

According to industry sources, rice bran oil has all the good qualities that one can expect from a cooking medium. It is good for health, skin, nervous system and has low calorie content but its availability is not up to the demand.

The total annual production of rice bran oil in India is only 5,00,000 tonnes, out of which 2,50,000 tonnes are used as input for vanaspati, 1,00,000 tonnes are used as input for the soap industry and only 1,50,000 tonnes can be used for producing the e dible grade. Though India is one of the largest rice producing nation, still the prospects of rice bran oil are low.

``One gets rice bran only from the par-boiled rice and this quality of rice is liked by the people of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh only. Rest of the Indians prefer to have unboiled rice. So, it is difficult to change the habit of such a huge section of the population and that too for a bye-product,'' sources said.

However, of late, rice mill owners of these two States have realised the potential of rice bran and have started to store it in a proper manner. ``Earlier, mill owners never cared for the rice bran but when they found that the item can fetch them a good price, they started to segregate the bran from the dust and store it properly,'' sources said.

Despite all these measures, rice bran oil is most unlikely to become a popular medium because its annual production is too small compared to the total requirement. In 2000-01 (November-October) oil year, India's total requirement of edible oil is 13.6 mi llion tonnes (mt) and out of it, 40 per cent is likely to be imported.

For the year 1999-2000, India started with an opening stock of 1.2 mt, produced about seven mt and imported about another five mt. The opening stock of the current year is around 1.05 mt and production is estimated at seven mt. India will have to import about 5.59 mt, which is precisely 40.44 per cent of the total requirement.

However, scientists have declared that rice bran oil is a very healthy oil. It contains oryzanol and squalene which is good for heart and skin. Moreover, the natural oxidants present in the oil helps to fight diseases. The oil also contains tocopherol w hich helps in maintaining balance in the nervous system. ``No wonder, this oil is popularly called Hearth Oil in Japan,'' sources pointed out.