India’s oilmeal exports declined a staggering 63.75 per cent due to higher global prices and poor availability in domestic market.
According to the data compiled by Mumbai-based The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), total exports slumped to 1.78 lakh tonnes during May this year as compared to 492,000 tonnes during the corresponding month last year.
The country’s poor performance in the export market was also attributed to lower availability of soybean for crushing. Analysts said that farmers held their stocks in anticipation of higher prices. Since soybean prices continued to remain under pressure and most importantly, sowing for the current season is estimated to be favourable, farmers have started releasing their stocks gradually.
B V Mehta, executive director of SEA believes that India’s meal shipment will gain momentum in coming months again.
Meanwhile, overall exports of oilmeals nosedived 63.38 per cent at 417,000 tonnes during the first two months period of the current fiscal as compared to 11.38 lakh tonnes in the comparable period last year.
Since January 2009, export of oilmeals is declining continuously due to steady decrease in production of meat and partly due to reduction demand for compound feeds and thus for oilmeals. Several Asian countries have suffered from a crisis in the livestock industry, which has contributed to lower consumption of soya meal and other oilmeals, reflecting in lower export from India.
Total shipment almost halved at 1.77 million tonnes so far this calendar year from 35.95 lakh tonnes in the corresponding period last year.
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