April 19, 2011

India's soymeal exports to rise

India's soymeal exports are likely to rise by up to 70% in the current marketing year, reviving from last year's slump, due to strong global demand and tight supplies in East Asian nations, a senior trade executive said Monday (Apr 18).

"We should easily cross 3.5 million tonnes of soymeal exports this year. It may exceed that and touch around 4 million tonnes," said Rajesh Agrawal, spokesman for the Soybean Processors' Association of India.

India's soymeal exports slumped 27% to 2.35 million tonnes in the last marketing year that ended September 30, 2010, due to higher prices and lower output, said the association.

The country exports soymeal mainly to Southeast Asian countries. Indian soymeal prices are quoting in the range of US$410-$415 a tonne, which are lower than those of competitors such as Brazil and Argentina.

Agrawal said the situation has turned around due to fast international demand and that India has already exported 2.95 million tonnes so far this marketing year.

Demand remains strong despite Vietnam, a buyer of Indian soymeal, insisting on more intense fumigation in soymeal shipped from the country as it suspected the presence of pests in corn supplies. "Intense fumigation has increased our costs, but made no difference to the volume of our soymeal exports," Agrawal said.

He said that the earthquake and tsunami in Japan may not impact its soymeal imports from India. Japan, the biggest importer from India, buys around one million tonnes of soymeal from the country. "There have been some delays, but there is no postponement of shipments or cancellations to Japan," Agrawal said. "Demand will not go down, but may exceed a million tonnes." Japan imported 667,707 tonnes of soymeal from India in 2009-10.