India’s oilmeal exports for first six months of the current fiscal (April-June 2020) fell 15 per cent to 579,110 tonnes as compared to 684,769 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. The fall in exports is attributed to the disparity of prices in export markets making Indian oilmeals costlier for international buyers.

As per the provisional data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), the oilmeal exports for the month of June stood at 229,230 tonnes, as compared to 228,416 tonnes in the same month last year, with marginal rise.

“The main reason for drop in export of oilmeals is disparity in export vis-à-vis other origin of oilmeals. The high prices of MSP of soybean and rapeseed may further discourage the export in the coming month also,” said BV Mehta, Executive Director, SEA.

“The Association has strongly pleaded to the Commerce Ministry for higher incentive to support the export of oilmeals from India,” he added.

However, there is a silver lining for the exports. Rapeseed meal exports have seen a sharp surge to 1,44,244 tonnes in May and 1,22,573 tonnes in June 2020 as against 72,895 tonnes in May and 71,064 tonnes in June 2019.

Among the major buyers for Indian oilmeals, only Vietnam and Taiwan have shown a growth in their imports of oilmeals from India at 13 per cent and 19 per cent respectively, whereas all other key buyers including South Korea, Thailand, and USA have shown a dip in imports in the range of 10 per cent to 35 per cent.

comment COMMENT NOW