Soymeal exports halved to 1.12 lakh tonne in April

India's soymeal exports fell by 50.2 per cent to 1,12,366 tonne in April from 225,563 tonne last month. Exports to regular buyers like Japan, Philippines, Thailand and Sri Lanka also fell short by 63,352 tonne, figures released by Soybean Processors Association (Sopa) said Thursday.

"Indian soymeal price is not competitive in the overseas markets. Meal from South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina is cheaper than Indian varieties," Rajesh Agarwal, chairman, Sopa said.

Freight rates here are much higher than South American nations, hence internationally they are able to sell meal at lower prices, he added.

Agarwal said another reason for sluggish exports is that many traditional meal buyers like Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan have full stocks till May-June and are not venturing into new buying.

India exported around 41,753 tonne less soymeal to Japan in April. Exports to Philippines were 10,087 tonne less and to Thailand exports were short by 5,550 tonne.

"Export orders from South-East Asian countries have dried up in the last few months as Indian meal prices are higher," a soy exporter said.

Processing industry sources said overall shortfall in bean production and high rate of Indian meal has led to shortfall in April exports.

Indian soymeal is priced $10-15 more than prevailing international rates, which makes it extremely difficult to push the product, another meal exporter said.

Industry estimates peg the country's overall bean production in 2004-05 at 5.8 million tonne, down 1.0 million tonne from previous year.

Sopa figures show that bean exports to Arabian countries like Saudi Arabia and Oman have gone up in April.

"These countries buy very small quantities of soymeal, but mostly prefer Indian varieties. India has been consistently selling meal to them," Agarwal said.

Overall, the country exported around 1.28 million tonne of soymeal during the October-April period.

"Exports are down because most of meal has already been sold. This year the scene is looking all the more bad because overall crop production is down by around 1.0 million tonne," a scientist with Indore-based National Research Centre for Soybean said.

"US, Brazil and Argentina are supplying good quality meal in the international markets, which is why Indian meal is being less preferred," he added.

Though exports have steadily gone down since February, soy industry is hopeful that India would be able to maintain its distinct edge in the International markets.

"We are sure that our traditional buyers like Japan, Thailand and Indonesia will come back to India. Whenever soymeal is required at short notice South-East Asian countries will have to come to India," Agarwal said.

India is among the few countries in the world that produces non-genetically modified soybean having high protein content.

"Many countries want only non-genetically modified meals with high protein content. They will surely come to India when they need good meal," another NRCS scientist added.

India is one of the leading producer of soybean with Madhya Pradesh accounting for 65-70 per cent of the total production. It consumes a small portion of the soymeal and exports the surplus mainly to Asian countries.