Soyameal, rapeseed meal drag India’s oilmeal exports down

Export of oilmeals from India declined by 64.74 per cent in January, and 34.52 per cent in the first 10 months of the financial year 2021-22 due to the decline in export of soyabean meal and rapeseed meal.

Data available with Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India showed that India exported 19.43 lakh tonnes (lt) of oil meals during April-January of 2021-22 against 29.69 lt in the corresponding period of 2020-21, registering a decline of 34.52 per cent.

India’s export of oilmeal stood at 1.76 lt in January against 5.01 lt in January 2021, down by 64.74 per cent.

Soyameal

Attributing this trend to the lesser export of soyabean meal, BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA, said soyabean crush margins in India are currently squeezed by pressure on meal prices, and relatively high price expectation of farmers for soyabean seed. He said soyabean seed prices are quoted over ₹6,900 a quintal now.

He said India is outpriced for soyabean meal export as it is quoted at $785 a tonne (ex-Kandla) against $595 of Brazil origin and $575 of Argentina origin (ex-Rotterdam).

He said India is unlikely to be competitive for export in the next 2-3 months due to the high price of domestic soyabean seed. Lesser crushing of soyabean is also pushing higher import of crude soyabean oil to India, he said.

India’s export of soyabean meal decreased to 3.15 lt during April-January of 2021-22 against 11.71 lt in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, registering a decline of 73.09 per cent.

Rapeseed meal

Mehta said the non-availability of rapeseed for crushing has affected the export of rapeseed meal over the last three months.

Stating that India crushed rapeseed heavily during initial months of the season last year, he said seed is hardly available for crushing now. New crop will be available for crushing from February-end or early March.

India exported 7.29 lt of rapeseed meal during the first 10 months of 2021-22 against 9.90 lt during April-January of 2020-21, down by 26.36 per cent.

Ricebran

He said ricebran extraction is performing better due to demand from Vietnam and Bangladesh. India exported 5.79 lt of ricebran extraction during April-January of 2021-22 against 4.29 lt during the first 10 months of 2020-21, witnessing a growth of 35.07 per cent.

The country exported 3.17 lt of castorseed meal during April-January of 2021-22 against 3.67 lt in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

Major importers

During April-January this fiscal, South Korea imported 5.09 lt (7.26 lt) of oilmeals. This included 2.44 lt of rapeseed meal, 2.28 lt of castorseed meal, and 35,446 tonnes of soyabean meal.

Vietnam imported 4.78 lt (3.93 lt) of oilmeals during the first 10 months of the current financial year. This included 3.98 lt of ricebran extraction, 76,060 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 3,839 tonnes of soyabean meal, and 440 tonnes of groundnut meal.

Stating that Bangladesh is importing rapeseed meal and ricebran extraction from India, he said Bangladesh imported 2.90 lt of oilmeals (3.83 lt). This included 1.07 lt of ricebran extractions, 1.83 lt of rapeseed meal, and 229 tonnes of soyabean meal.

Thailand imported 1.44 lt (1.84 lt) of oilmeals, Taiwan imported 77,350 tonnes (1.17 lt), and the US imported 58,354 tonnes (1.99 lt) of oilmeals during April-January of 2021-22.

The average CIF export price of soyabean meal stood at $760 a tonne in January against $734 a tonne in December. The average CIF export price of rapeseed meal was at $337 a tonne in January against $302 a tonne in December.

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