Lack of demand in the international market has taken its toll on the export of castorseed meal from India during the period from April 2008 to January 2009. Though oilmeal exports during the period have surged by 21 per cent, export of castorseed meal has dipped substantially in the wake of low demand.
As per the data available with The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), the export of castorseed extraction declined to 171,194 tonnes during the ten month period ended January 2009. The export stood at 253,400 during April 2007 to January 2008.
Market players attribute the ongoing slowdown to the fall in castorseed meal exports. “The demand for castorseed meal has dipped noticeably due to recession. Also, the price of castor seed extraction has come down by 48 per cent in January,” said B V Mehta, executive director, Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA).
Apart from this, exports of other oilmeals such as rice bran extraction and groundnut extraction have also gone down during the same period. However, overall exports of oilmeals for the period have increased by 21 per cent to 4.62 million tonnes from 3.83 million tonnes during the same period in FY08.
The surge in overall exports of oilmeals is largely due to rise in soybean meal and rapeseed meal exports, which increased to 3.56 million tonnes and 730,302 tonnes from 2.68 million tonnes and 691,252 tonnnes respectively.
