Comments
Exports of soybean meal and other value-added products from soybean recorded a decline of 2.3 per cent at 6.74 lakh tonnes for the first quarter (October to September) of the current oil year 2018-19 as against 6.90 lakh tonnes in the same period last year.
“The export of soybean meal and other soy value-added products during first quarter of current year was 6.74 lakh MT as against 6.90 lakh tons during the same period last year declined by 2.3 pe cent over the last year,” said the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) in a statement on Monday.
The estimated data is based on the data collected from various sources including government and trade.
According to the data, soymeal and soy products exports for the month of October stood at 1.33 (1.08) lakh tonnes, for November it stood at 2.63 (3) lakh tonnes and in the month of December it recorded exports of 2.78 (2.82) lakh tonnes.
Soybean meal prices hovered at around $364 per tonne (FAS/FOB) at Indian port, which has strengthened in the past one quarter from $ 357 a tonne in October.
Iranian push
The exports, however, have picked up in the first three months of the current year, mainly supported by the demand from Iran. According to trade sources, the Iranian market has opened up for Indian soymeal with sharp jump in soymeal shipments from India.
Given the economic restrictions by the United States against Iran, the Persian country has stepped up its sourcing from India. According to data shared by SOPA, India has exported highest quantities of soybean meal and soy products to Iran during the past three months. At 1,36,755 tonnes of exports, Iran became the top destination for India's soymeal and soy products.
In October the exports to Iran stood at 1000 tonnes, which jumped sharply to 55,000 tonnes in November and 80,755 tonnes in December.
Experts noted that the sharp jump in shipments to Iran is also attributed to the revised payment mechanism between Iran and India. It started accepting payments from India in rupee as well as uses the same fund to pay to India for its own imports such as soybean products.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.