| "The soyameal exports will increase to about 45 lakh tonnes this season on higher production of soyabean in the country," Indore-based Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA) Coordinator Rajesh Agrawal said. |
| Soyameal export stood at 32.56 lakh tonnes worth Rs 3,342 crore in 2006-07 season ending September this year. Soyabean year runs from October to September. |
| "Besides, India has the freight advantage of $40-50 a tonne compared with prices quoted by exporters in Brazil and Argentina," Agrawal said. |
| He said the soyameal export in October, the first month of the new season stood at 1.74 lakh tonne and is expected to go up to 4-4.5 lakh tonnes in November. |
| Agrawal said exports of soyameal could have been higher but for late operation by processing plants. "The processing started late at around second half of October that resulted in lower production of soyameals last month." |
| SOPA has pegged the soyabean production in kharif 2007 at 94.73 lakh tonnes, up by 32.5 per cent compared to last year's output of 71.49 lakh tonnes. |
| Agrawal said the soyameal output is expected at about 67-68 lakh tonnes, of which 20-22 lakh tonnes would be consumed by the domestic poultry industry while the remaining quantity would be exported. |
| India exports soyameal to Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, Bangladesh and Pakistan, among others. |
| Because of freight advantage, Agrawal said the demand for Indian soyameal from China and South-East Asia has increased. |
| Soyameal is consumed by the poultry industry which has been facing shortages in maize, which is the major feed. |
| Agrawal also highlighted that soyameal exporters would get better realisations this season compared to last year because of less production of soyabean in other exporting countries such as the US and China. |
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