An over-55-per-cent drop in soyameal export in November dragged down oilmeals export to nearly half compared with the same period a year ago.
According to the Solvent Extractors Association of India, oilmeals export dropped to 3.47 lakh tonnes (lt) against 6.78 lt.
Soyameal exports that make up nearly 90 per cent of the oilmeals export declined to 2.97 lt during the review period, from 6.47 lt. The surprising aspect is that soyameal exports usually pick up in November.
Export of oilmeals during the first eight months of the fiscal is also down 44 per cent to 18.90 lt (33.69 lt).
Exports have dropped due to weak overseas demand and lower crushing/processing, the association said.
Soyabean processing units, in particular, have been hurt by lack of parity due to high soyabean prices.
Rapemeal shipments too dropped to 20.376 tonnes (26,335 tonnes) in November. Castormeal exports continue to be above 20,000 tonnes for the second consecutive month.
A positive feature on the export front is that prices for the meal have begun to improve.
For example, soyameal exports fetched $431 a tonne in November against $390 in October. Similarly, rapemeal fetched $261 against $227.
Vietnam was the largest buyer of Indian oilmeals in November, importing 1.26 lt, while Japan bought nearly 80,000 tonnes.
Source : Business Line