August 6, 2009

The main soy-growing region in central India has seen a dry patch in the past two weeks but the crop is in good shape and traders have already signed deals to export 200,000 tonnes of soymeal to Southeast Asia.

 

Erratic monsoon rains remain a concern as the soybean crop would suffer if the dry patch continues for another week.

 

The weather office has forecast only "isolated rain" in central India in the next two days and in the following three days it forecast rains only along the west coast and some northern regions.

 

India's monsoon rains have been 19-percent below average since June 1, but the soy area received good rainfall in July, boosting the crop outlook and encouraging traders to sign export deals for the new marketing year starting in October.

 

Traders said these deals were done at US$405 to US$425 per tonne for the shipments in November and December.

 

India kicked off the new soymeal export season with a 77,000 tonnes deal to South Korea late last month.

 

An Indore-based dealer said this year's export deal prices are expected to be a bit lower than last year, adding that this year's deals started little ahead of the usual time of mid-August, when the standing crop gets at least one spell of follow-up monsoon rains.

 

The June-September monsoon arrived late, but revived on time in Madhya Pradesh, the main soy producing province.

 

The trade official said the standing crop did not receive adequate rains for the last two weeks, causing some concerns.

 

Scanty rains in the western region have reduced oilseed sowing but this was offset by higher planting in central India.

 

India's soy area was up 3.4 percent at 9.07 million hectare until July. In Madhya Pradesh, the area exceeded its target by 3 percent to 5.1 million hectares.

 

India produced 17.9 million tonnes of summer-sown oilseed crops in 2008 with soybeans contributing 55 percent of the total output.