Indian soymeal exports dive to five-year low

Due to sluggish global demand and low crushing, India's soymeal exports went down to a five-year low of 2.1 million tonnes in 2009-10, declining from 4.2 million tonnes achieved a year ago.

According to data released by the Indore-based Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) on Wednesday (April 7), soymeal exports in March 2010 also went down by more than 23% to 1.69 lakh tonne from 2.22 lakh tonne same month last year.

Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea are the key export destination for Indian soymeal.

Crushing has become unviable for processors as high soybean prices have hit their margins badly. India exported 7.4 lakh tonne of soymeal to Vietnam, 4.54 lakh tonne to Japan, 2.38 lakh tonne to Thailand and 1.50 lakh tonne to Indonesia in 2009-10.

Meanwhile, India's annual production of soy has been in range of 8.5-10 million tonnes during the last few years and the production in 2009-10 is estimated to be around 8.9 million tonnes.

India, Asia's biggest supplier of soymeal, exported 5 million tonnes of the animal feed last year. Out of 9 million hectares of land under soy cultivation in the country, more than 4 million hectares are in Madhya Pradesh while 2.7 million hectares and 0.7 million hectares are in Maharashtra and Rajasthan.