October 12, 2010

India's soymeal prices drop by US$45 a tonne

Prices of Indian soymeal have fallen by Rs2,000 (US$45.15) per tonne over the last few months following a bumper soy crop this year, an industry official has said.

After an excellent soy crop, rates of soymeal have come down to Rs16,000 (US$358.24) per tonne (ex plant) as on October 8, 2010 from Rs18,000 (US$403.02) per tonne during last few months, said Ricky Thaper, spokesperson of Poultry Federation of India.

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

Due to very high feed cost in last few months, the cost of production of chicken had increased and poultry farmers were suffering losses on the sales of chicken, he said adding now due to fall in soymeal 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, 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, soymeal and corn, will not increase, he added.

India's per capita consumption of egg and poultry meat is 37 eggs and one kg, respectively.