India's December oilmeal exports fall 40% on weak soyabean meal shipments

New Delhi: India's oilmeal exports fell 40 per cent in December to 2.40 lakh tonnes from 3.98 lakh tonnes a year earlier, hit by a sharp decline in soyabean meal shipments, industry body SEA said on Monday.

Soyabean meal exports plunged to 1.14 lakh tonnes in December, from 2.78 lakh tonnes a year ago, the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.

Rapeseed meal exports declined to 71,452 tonnes from 88,746 tonnes, while castorseed meal shipments fell to 21,904 tonnes from 28,452 tonnes. Groundnut meal exports dropped to 1,609 tonnes from 3,050 tonnes.


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Rice bran extraction exports, however, surged to 31,237 tonnes from just 70 tonnes a year earlier, SEA data showed.

For the April-December period, total oilmeal exports fell 6 per cent to 29.75 lakh tonnes from 31.50 lakh tonnes a year earlier.

SEA said a decline in rapeseed crushing in India and a recent rise in global prices would curb Chinese demand for Indian rapeseed meal.

India exported 6.85 lakh tonnes of rapeseed meal to China during April-December, up sharply from 26,327 tonnes a year earlier.

Several companies have received approval from China's GACC, via India's Export Inspection Council, to ship rapeseed meal, SEA said.

Soyabean meal exports in the last two months totalled 2.28 lakh tonnes compared to 4.62 lakh tonnes a year earlier due to weakening price competitiveness despite support from European buyers.

Domestic soyabean meal manufacturers have faced weak demand from livestock feed makers, who prefer cheaper distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), a byproduct of ethanol production from corn and rice.

China, South Korea, Bangladesh and Germany are the major importers of Indian oilmeals, SEA said.