Oilmeal exports from India provisionally reported a 7 per cent increase for the period April 2018-January 2019 at 2,692,452 tonnes as against 2,516,657 tonnes reported in the corresponding period last year.

Data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) showed a sharp jump in soybean meal exports during the period under review from 23,000 tonnes to 2.8 lakh tonnes with the Iran market opening up.

In the wake of economic sanctions by the US, Iran turned to India to meet its soybean meal requirements. To support this, Iran started accepting payments in Indian currency, used it to pay India for imports.

The export of rapeseed meal sharply increased to 897,537 (486,917) tonnes in the first 10 months, mainly to South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.

However, the prospects of exports to China amid US-China trade tensions is less likely to yield any fruit for Indian oilmeal exports. According to the SEA, the export of rapeseed meal and soybean meal to China is “unlikely to resume during the current financial year as procedure for registration with MoA, China is too cumbersome ... to complete all formalities.”

Soybean meal prices rose to $413 per tonne (FOB Indian port) for January 2019 as against $364 last month even as currency trends showed steady movement at ₹70.71 a dollar for the month.

Notably, per the data, exports to Thailand jumped 65 per cent to 263,280 tonnes mainly of rapeseed meal. Exports to France reported a jump of 71 per cent to 165,602 tonnes , largely soybean meals.

However, Vietnam imported about 11 per cent less oilmeal from India at 491,720 tonnes for the period under review.

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