• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

M.R. Subramani

Chennai, July 8 Oilmeal exports continued to increase, gaining from lower crushings in Argentina and freight advantage during the first quarter of the current fiscal.

According to the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), oilmeal exports during April-June were 11.08 lakh tonnes (lt) against 4.25 lt, up 70 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

“Oilmeal exports have gained mainly on the strength of an increase in shipments of soyabean meal. Otherwise, exports of other oilmeals have declined,” said Mr B.V. Mehta, Executive Director, SEA.

Soyameal exports during the period increased from 4.24 lt to 11.07 lt with demand emanating mainly from South-East Asian and Far-Eastern countries such as Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Exports to Thailand, in particular, witnessed a 10-fold jump to 1.51 lt from a meagre 15,125 tonnes last year.

“Soyameal exports have gained mainly since there was a demand for poultry feed. The increasing exports saw farmers, too, getting good prices for their beans,” Mr Mehta said.

Soyabean prices have more than doubled to Rs 27,000 a tonne currently from last year, mainly on demand for the meal. Soyameal prices, on the other hand, have also doubled to Rs 21,000 a tonne since last year.

“Soyameal also gained since crushings in Argentina were lower due to the farmers’ strike there. Also, freight charges from Argentina to South-East or Far-East are around $150 a tonne compared with $50 from India. Besides, we could also export in smaller vessels of 15,000-20,000 tonnes,” said Mr Agrawal.

The exports are also being aided by higher oilseed crop, especially that of a record 94.5 lt tonnes soyabean, last year.

According to SEA, apart from Thailand, exports to Vietnam, South Korea and Japan have witnessed significant rise.

Shipments to Vietnam increased to 3.85 lt against 3.27 lt with soyabean alone accounting for 32 lt. Also, Vietnam has lapped up the entire 51,900 tonnes of ricebran extraction exported from the country this fiscal. Ricebran extraction and rapemeal are used as pig feeds.

South Korea bought 2.15 lt of oilmeals compared with 1.96 lt a year ago, with rapeseed meal accounting for over 50 per cent of the shipments followed by 63,280 tonnes of soyameal and 44,500 tonnes of castorseed meal.

Japan nearly doubled its import of Indian oilmeal at 1.90 lt with soyameal alone accounting for 1.87 lt.

Port-wise, Kandla handled 60 per cent of the oilmeals that were shipped out, followed by Mumbai which sent out 21 per cent of the meals from the country.

More Stories on : Oilseeds & Edible Oil | Exports & Imports

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Monsoon set to run last lap across Rajasthan

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line