April oilmeal exports plunge 51 pc y/y trade: Solvent Extractors' Association of India

NEW DELHI: Oilmeals exports from the country dropped significantly by 51 per cent to 1,99,168 tonnes in April as supply was less due to lower crushing, industry body SEA said today.

The shipment of oilmeals, used as animal feed, stood at 4,03,090 tonnes in the same period last year.

"The export of oilmeals is heavily reduced in April mainly due to disparity in crushing and high prices of soybean resulted into less availablity for the export," Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) said in a statement.

Much of the fall in export was seen in soyabean meal, the shipment of which declined drastically to 99,451 tonnes in April from 3,13,832 tonnes in the year-ago period, it said.

The availability of soyabean meal for export was affected as prices of soyabean remained higher at USD 616 per tonne in April, as compared with USD 509 per tonne, it added.

Similarly, the shipment of rice bran extraction fell 13,000 tonnes from 23,400 tonnes in the review period.

However, export of rapeseed meal and castor seed meal remained higher than the year-ago period.

Export to Iran, South Korea, Thailand, Japan and Indonesia fell sharply in April from over the last year.

For instance, shipment to Iran fell by 30 per cent to 67,576 tonnes in April from 97,904 tonnes in the same month last year. Similarly, export to South Korea dropped by 17 per cent to 58,454 tonnes from 70, 496 tonnes in the review period.