oilmeal exports made a turnaround of sorts after a gap of two months as total shipments shot up 98 per cent to 67,779 tonnes in October on higher demand for rapeseed meal and castor seed meal, industry body SEA said today.

The country had shipped 34,168 tonnes of oilmeal, used as an animal feed, in October last year.

According to data released by the Solvent Extractors Association of India, the oilmeal exports have revived after two months. Exports had come in at 63,123 tonnes in August and 96,223 tonnes in September this year, but the growth was muted in year-on-year terms.

In October 2016, rapeseed meal export rose to 23,720 tonnes, from 3,079 tonnes in the year-ago period. Unlike the year-ago period, there was castor seed meal shipments to the tune of 31,025 tonnes in October this year.

However, export of soyabean meal fell to 3,177 tonnes, from 4,237 tonnes, while shipment of rice bran extraction too declined to 9,343 tonnes from 26,852 tonnes in the said period, Mumbai-based SEA said in a statement.

During April-October this fiscal, oilmeal exports dropped 29 per cent to 5,54,147 tonnes as against 7,83,565 tonnes in the year-ago period.

The fall in exports was “due to lesser availability of oilseeds for crushing and continuous disparity in exporting oilmeals in the international market”, it noted.

South Korea and Vietnam are the top two destinations for export of oilmeal for India.

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