Exports of oilmeals for the month of February 2008 stood at 7.59 lakh tonne compared to 5.93 lakh tonne in the same month last year, up 28% due to increased export of soybean, rapeseed, castor meal and groundnut meal.
The overall export of oilmeal for the period April 2007/February 2008 was reported at 45.58 lakh tonne compared to 44.15 lakh tonne, according to data compiled by the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA). In the first half of the season, the exports were down during the season 2006-07 due to lower oilseeds crop. With record price realisation in international market, the overall export is expected to increase in the second half of season 2007-08 coupled with the record soybean crop of 9.4 million tonne. In April 2007, FOB realisation for soybean meal was $269 which had gone up to $417 per tonne in February 2008, similarly rapeseed meal realisation jumped to nearly double and reached at $220, while groundnut meal FOB price increased to $317 a tonne and castor meal jumped to $125 from $70 a tonne in past one year.
The better FOB realisation has given good support to domestic processing industry and nullified the impact of rupee depreciation. During the review period, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan turned major importers of oilmeals from the country.
Vietnam increased the import of oilmeals from India and reported at 14.36 lakh tonne. South Korea reported import of 8.42 lakh tonne consisted of 3.86 lakh tonne of rapeseed meal, 2.41 lakh tonne of soybean meal and 2.10 lakh tonne of castorseed meal.