Soyameal exports declined by 4% to 34.73 lakh tonnes during the 2012-13 marketing year (October-September) ended last month due to lower availability of soyabean for crushing.
Shipments of soyameal during last year stood at 36.23 lakh tonnes, the Soyabean Processors Association (SOPA) said in a statement.
Export of soyameal used as animal feed has increased sharply during September this year to 1.73 lakh tonnes from 2,864 tonnes in the same month last year.
"Exports have come down as farmers were holding onto the stocks which affected the crushing and besides that prices at domestic market were not in parity with the prices at global market," SOPA spokesperson Rajesh Agrawal said.
During the current oil year (October-September), Iran, Japan, France, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Korea are the major destinations for Indian Soybean meal exports.
On a financial year basis, the export during April to September in the current fiscal increased by 4.68% to 8.76 lakh tonnes as compared to 8.37 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.
