Indonesian soymeal imports seen up 15%

 

 

Indonesia's soymeal imports are likely to rise 15% to 2.3 million tonnes in 2010 from around 2.0 million tonnes last year due to a rise in demand for poultry feed and meat, a senior industry executive said Thursday (April 29).

 

Indonesia's overall economy may grow by 5.5% this year, and this is pushing up demand for meat, which in turn is likely to increase requirements for animal and poultry feed, Ali Basry, country representative for American Soybean Association-International Marketing, said.

 

US soymeal exports to Indonesia have increased to almost 500,000 tonnes in the current marketing year that ends in September, up from close to 100,000 tonnes in 2008-09, taking advantage of a lack of sales from India and Argentina in the past several months.

 

Demand for animal and poultry feed is expected to grow by around 6.0% this year to 8.5 million tonnes, Ali said. Soymeal comprises around 20-25% of animal feed ingredients.

 

During the global economic crisis, the purchasing power of the people suffered and the general tendency in such a situation is to shift towards vegetarian food, he said.

 

Indonesia lacks a soy crushing industry and therefore is heavily dependent on meal imports to make animal feed.

 

Ali said soy imports this year may rise to 1.40 million tonnes from 1.25 million tonnes, and that the bulk of soy purchases are traditionally from the US. According to US government estimates, Indonesia has already imported close to 1.0 million tonnes of soy from the US since September last year.