May 8, 2009
Indian oilmeal exports fall sharply in April
India's oilmeal exports dropped 64 percent in April due to a decline in meat production in Europe, the US and other countries and slowdown in the poultry industry, mainly in Brazil.
Besides these, some of the Asian countries suffered from crisis in the livestock industry, leading to lower consumption of soymeal and other oilmeals.
According to the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEAI), oilmeal exports in April dropped to 2.31 lakh tonnes against 6.46 lakh tonnes during the same period a year ago.
A bright spot in the export scenario is the increase in prices of soymeal. The association said that due to failure of soy crop in South America, resulting in decline in world supplies by 15 million tonnes during the current season, production of soymeal has been affected, adding that prices of soy and other oilmeals have therefore firmed up since January.
Since January, soymeal prices have increased by over US$100 a tonne, while other meals prices have also increased significantly.
In April, China, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan were the major buyers of Indian oilmeals. China bought over 58,000 tonnes of oilmeals, mainly rapeseed meal above 57,000 tonnes.
Export to Vietnam was down to 61,882 tonnes against 2.13 lakh tonnes during the same period a year ago. Similar was the story with shipments to Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
