June 9, 2009

India's oilmeal exports dramatically fell by 64 percent in May on-year, dropping for the fifth straight month, due to lower poultry and livestock demand in Asia, a leading trade body said on Monday (June 8).

Exports in May plummeted to 178,350 tonnes from 492,010 tonnes in the same month last year, while sales in the first two months of the current fiscal year fell 63 percent to 416,935 tonnes from 1.14 million tonnes in April-May last year.

However, export outlook was still bullish in the short to medium term as the South American soy crop was lower than expected, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India said in a statement.

According to B.V. Mehta, executive director of the trade body, the livestock slump in several Asian countries have contributed to lower consumption of soymeal and other oilmeals, reflecting lower exports from India.

India exported 77,018 tonnes of soymeal in May, 87,472 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 6,560 tonnes of ricebran meal and 7,300 tonnes of castormeal, the trade body said.

Exports to traditional Asian markets like Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand all dropped sharply.

Exports in April-May to Vietnam fell 66 percent to 115,381 tonnes; to South Korea dropped 84 percent to 30,960 tonnes; Japan by 55 percent to 67,379 tonnes; Indonesia fell by 42 percent to 37,596 tonnes and to Thailand by 72 percent to 35,693 tonnes.

Oilmeal exports to China bucked the trend and jumped 98 percent for the two months to 90,754 tonnes, mainly due to rapeseed meal.

India, Asia's leading exporter of feedstock, sold 5.42 million tonnes of oilmeal in the fiscal year to March, almost steady with 5.44 million tonnes a year ago.