India?s exports of soyameal went down by more than 43% last month mainly due to decline in global demand, Soyabean Processors Association (SOPA) said on Monday .
According to data released by Indore-based trade body SOPA, India exported 2.1 lakh tonne of soyabean meal in February against 3.8 lakh tonne exported during the same month last year.
Many countries including China, Europe, Malaysia and Middle East did not place any order for import of soyameal in last month, SOPA statement said. The export of soyameal, a key ingredient in poultry feed, also fell by more than 51% during oil year April 2009 to February 2010 to 19.6 lakh tonne in comparison to 40.2 lakh tonne achieved same period previous year. Soyameal exports to South Korea declined to 19,424 tonne in February from 25,807 tonne in January, while to Iran dipped to 17,500 tonne from 34,912 tonne in the review period, it said.
The statement said that shipments to major importing countries such as Indonesia and Vietnam remained stable. India exported 23,896 tonne and 1.02 lakh tonne of soyameal to Indonesia and Vietnam, respectively last month.
Meanwhile, the Solvent Extractors? Association of India (SEAI) had stated last week that export of oil meals (which also includes soyameal) during April 2009 to February 2010 had declined by 41% to 30 lakh tonne from Rs 50.8 lakh tonne achieved same period last year. SEAI had attributed weak export demand coupled with lower crushing during last many months. SEAI said that during the month of February 2010, the oil meals exports went down by 26% to 3.29 lakh tonne from 4.4 lakh tonne achieved same month last year.
India’s annual production of soyabean has been in range of 8.5-10 million tonne during last few years and the production during 2009-10 was estimated to be around 8.9 million tonne. India exports soyameal to countries like Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. Soyameal is processed from soybeans. Brazil and Argentina are the main competitors of India in the global market. India, Asia’s biggest supplier of soyameal, exported 5 million tonne of the animal feed last year.