India's oilmeal exports dropped by a tenth to 4.33 million tonnes in 2013/14, falling for a second straight year as high prices of its soyameal curbed Southeast Asian demand for the animal feed, a leading trade body said on Monday. Overseas soyameal sales by Asia's top supplier fell about 18 percent to 2.8 million tonnes in the year ended March 31, accounting for most of the drop in oilmeal exports, data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) showed.
"We lost ground in traditional markets in Southeast Asia," said B.V. Mehta, executive director of SEA. Exports to Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia fell as cheaper supplies were available from other origins including China and Argentina, he added. The average Indian soyameal export price rose to $606 per tonne, free on board, in March from $569 a month ago, data from the SEA showed, due to tight local supplies of soyabean that is crushed to produce soyabean oil and meal.
India's soyabean output is estimated to have dropped 4.4 percent to 10.23 million tonnes in 2013/14 due to crop-damaging rains during harvest. The country is currently offering soyameal at $630, while supplies from Brazil and Argentina are available for $530-$550, a Mumbai-based trader said. Last year, the major destinations for Indian soyameal were South Korea, Iran and France.
On a monthly basis, soyameal exports rose nearly 22 percent to 223,204 tonnes in March, reversing a decline that started in December last year, as sales to Iran and France improved. But traders expect soyameal exports to weaken in April as prices are still higher compared to meal from other origins. India's 2013/14 rapeseed meal exports rose 16.4 percent to 916,050 tonnes as big buying from South Korea and Thailand helped shrug off a ban by China on Indian oilmeal imports. China, which was India's No 2 client for rapeseed meal, banned oilmeal imports from India in 2012 after finding in them traces of malachite green, a hazardous chemical.
