Exports of oilmeal down 67% in December

Oilmeal exports fell 67% to 1.7 lakh tonne in December due to a decline in export of soybean and rapeseed meal, according to the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA).The association, which has compiled the export data for December, said 1,70,338 tonne of oilmeal was exported in the month, compared to 5,16,006 tonne in the corresponding period last year. The overall export of oilmeals during April–December dropped 28% to 1,766,687 tonne, compared with 2,467,564 tonne.

“Soybean crush margins in India are currently squeezed by pressure on meal prices and relatively high price expectation of farmers for soybean seed, which is currently quoted over Rs 6,300 per quintal,” SEA said. “At present, India is outpriced for soybean meal export. Ex-Kandla are quoted at $750 per tonne as against Brazil origin’s $535 per tonne and Argentina’s $525 per tonne,” the association said. “India is unlikely to be competitive for export in next 2-3 months due to high price of domestic soybean seed. Lesser crushing of soybean has resulted in higher import of crude soybean oil. In case of rapeseed, seeds are not available for crushing and that has affected export of rapeseed meal in the last two months.”