September 8, 2011

 

India's oilmeal and soymeal exports up 14.5%

 

 

India's oilmeal exports rose 14.5 % from 244,075 tonnes a year earlier to 279,469 tonnes in August, on good demand from Southeast Asia and more oilseeds were available, a leading trade body said on Wednesday (September 7).

 

Oilmeal exports in the first five months of the financial year from April 2011 jumped over 60 % to 1.639 million tonnes compared with 1.021 million tonnes a year ago, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

 

But exports of soymeal in August fell six % to 165,610 tonnes on lower availability of soy beans for crushing, after the bulk of this crop was shipped out in the first half of the 2011 calendar year.

 

Soymeal exports in April-August rose 61 % to 904,609 tonnes, but are likely to ease in September.

 

B.V. Mehta, executive director of the SEA, said monthly exports growth has been slowing since July as the bulk of available meal was exported in the first half but supplies have gone down in the local market.

 

Exports of soymeal to Iran in August rose multi-fold to 32,000 tonnes from just 2,304 tonnes a year ago, the data showed, continuing a trend this year to boost sales which coincided with issues over payments for oil imports.

 

India's rapeseed meal exports in August rose 44 % to 92,611 tonnes, despite a halving in shipments to China to 14,022 tonnes.

 

Rapeseed meal exports to China are falling due to contamination issues. We are trying to fix the issue as early as possible, Mehta said.

 

Contamination of India's rapeseed meal exports to China could mean exports, which total over 450,000 tonnes a year, could halt if the issue is not resolved by Sept. 17, the trade body said last month.

 

After the exports data, soybean and rapeseed futures on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange rose nearly 1 %.

 

Oilmeal exports in the 2010/11 fiscal year that ended in March rose to 5.1 million tonnes from 3.2 million tonnes in 2009/10.