India’s oilmeal exports jump 51% in FY21

New Delhi, May 19 (PTI): The country’s oilmeal exports rose 51.44 per cent to 36.8 lakh tonne in 2020-21 from 24.3 lakh tonne in the previous year, on sharp rise in soybean meal shipments, according to industry body SEA.
In terms of value, export of oilmeals nearly doubled to Rs 8,850 crore from Rs 4,450 crore in the said period. Oilmeals are used as animal feed in poultry and other sectors. According to the latest data released by the Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA), soybean meal export rose to 15.64 lakh tonne in 2020-21 from 6.92 lakh tonne in the previous year. Similarly, rapeseed meal exports rose to 11.13 lakh tonne from 9.61 lakh tonne, while the shipment of rice bran extension rose to 5.76 lakh tonne from 2.36 lakh tonne in the said period. “India exported a record quantity of 5.76 lakh tonne of rice bran extraction during 2020-21, thanks to new demand from Bangladesh due to failure of their rice crop,” SEA said.
However, export of castor seed meal declined to 4.19 lakh tonne in 2020-21 from 5.38 lakh tonne in the previous year, the SEA data showed.
According to SEA, the export performance during the first half of the current 2021-22 fiscal year is likely to be lower in the case of soybean meal because India is totally outpriced in the international market due to high domestic prices of soybean.
“It looks, in view of the lesser export of soybean meal, local availability will be higher for the domestic feed industry,” it said.
Export of rapeseed meal is likely to be at the same level of last year as India is a competitive supplier to South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other Far East Countries. Castor seed meal export too is expected at the last year’s level, it added.
Southeast Asian nations, the Middle East as well as European countries like Germany besides the US are the main export market for Indian oilmeals.