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India’s oilmeal exports dipped by 54 per cent for the month of March 2020 at 177,003 tonnes as against 3,82,852 tonnes in the same month last year, a provisional data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) has showed.
Notably, the data for March comes amid the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The overall export of oilmeals during April 2019 to March 2020 is reported at 2,433,617 tonnes, compared with 3,324,823 tonnes in April 2018-March 2019, indicating a drop of 27 per cent.
Castormeal exports
The data showed that the exports of soyabean meal fell by nearly half, mainly due to disparity in export and better realisation in domestic market, the SEA noted.
However, SEA also highlighted a silver lining in oilmeal exports, which saw a sharp increase in export of castormeal.
Shipments of the meal jumped by nearly 43 per cent during the year from 375,954 tonnes for the April 2018 to March 2019 period to 538,956 tonnes in the year under review. Castormeal is used as organic fertiliser.
Other meals
The data for rapeseed meal showed a dip from 1,094,015 tonnes last year to 961,312 tonnes. The export from Kandla is reported at 799,347 tonnes (33 per cent), followed by Mundra 775,579 tonnes (32 per cent), Mumbai including JNPT 187,383 tonnes (8 per cent), Kolkata 178,695 tonnes (7 per cent) and other ports 492,613 tonnes (20 per cent).
In term of value, the total exports of oil meals was provisionally reported at ₹4,437 crores as against ₹ 6,411 crore in the previous year, down by 31 per cent.
Price rise
Soyabean meal prices rose to $475 per tonne FOB Indian port in February 2020, as against $440 in March 2019.
Similarly, rapeseed meal prices also showed higher trend with prices in February 2020 quoting at $222 per tonne FOB Indian ports, as against $220 a tonne.
The rapeseed meal prices have softened after hitting a peak of $249 a tonne in November 2019.
Castor seed meal prices have softened from $80 per tonne quoted in March 2019 to $68 per tonne FOB Indian ports in February 2020.
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