October 11, 2010

Indian soy prices fall due to bumper crop harvest

Prices of soy in India have fallen by INR2,000 (US$45.23) per tonne over the last few months after a bumper soy crop harvest this year, an industry official said.

Rates of soy have dropped to INR16,000 (US$361.65) per tonne as of October 8, down from INR18,000 (US$406.83) per tonne during the last few months, said Ricky Thaper, spokesperson of the Poultry Federation of India.

Soy production has increased by about 10% to 10.5 million tonnes this year.

Due to very high costs of feed in the last few months, the cost of production of chicken had increased and poultry farmers were suffering losses on the sales of chicken, Thaper said. He added that due to the fall in soy prices, the feed cost has gone down and poultry farmers are expected to cover their losses.

Poultry feed comprises of around 70% of the total cost of production of eggs and chicken.

To safeguard the interest of poultry farmers, the government should first secure the feed ingredients required for poultry and livestock industry and should allow the export of only excess feed ingredients, Thaper said.

This will help the poultry industry to survive as the price of feed ingredients, such as soy and corn, will not increase, he said.

India's per capita consumption of egg and poultry meat is 37 eggs and 1 kilogramme respectively.