January 18, 2005

India's Soymeal Exports Likely To Dip 26% From Soft World Prices

India's soymeal exports are expected to plunge by more than 26 percent this year because of soft world prices and higher domestic demand, a top industry official said on Monday.

He said the country was likely to export only 2.5m tons of soymeal in the marketing year to September, down from 3.4m tons the previous year, to destinations like Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan and Iraq.

"Large buyers like South Korea have covered huge quantities from South America and the US, as Indian prices were high," said Rajesh Agrawal, chairman of the Indore-based Soybean Processors Association of India.

Mr Agrawal said on the sidelines of an industry meeting that the US and South America were aggressively marketing soymeal while Indian farmers, who got good prices last year, were holding back soybean sales awaiting a rise in domestic prices.

Global soymeal prices have been depressed by a record US soybean crop in 2004-05 and alos from forecasts of a huge harvest in giant producers Brazil and Argentina.

The US soybean crop in 2004 is estimated at 3.1 billion bushels, the biggest in history, surpassing the previous record of 2.9 billion bushels set in 2001, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Traders said South American soymeal was offered in South Korea at about US$232 per ton on a cost-and-freight basis about a week ago, compared with Indian prices of about US$250.