Soybean Meal Sales by India May Surge 83% This Month on Prices, Group Says.

Soybean-meal exports from India, Asia’s top supplier of the animal feed, may surge 83 percent this month as farmers boost sales to benefit from prices set for a fourth straight monthly gain, a processors’ group said.

Sales to Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and China may total 400,000 metric tons in October, compared with 218,247 tons a year earlier, Rajesh Agrawal, a coordinator for the Soybean Processors Association of India, said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Soybean-meal futures in Chicago are poised for a fourth straight monthly advance after the oilseeds surged on increased import demand from China and on concerns that soybean planting may be curbed in Brazil, the world’s second-biggest producer after the U.S. India’s soybean-meal exports may jump to 3.5 million tons in the year that began Oct. 1, from 2.35 million tons last year, Agrawal said.

“There’s a fair amount of demand for Indian meal from our traditional buyers,” Agrawal said. “Rising prices haven’t deterred them as Indian meals have inherent advantages.”

India exports the majority of its soybean meal, mixed with poultry feed as a form of protein to aid the growth of birds and cattle. Meal from the South Asian country is preferred by buyers in Southeast Asia because it’s made from non-genetically modified seeds and has short delivery times, Agrawal said.

The feed was being offered at about $420 a ton on a free- on-board basis at ports in western India, Agrawal said. Soybean- meal for December delivery was little changed at $334.20 a ton on the Chicago Board of Trade at 9:28 a.m. Singapore time. The contract climbed as high as $340.20 on Oct. 21, the highest price since June 15, 2009.

‘Heavy Demand’

“Heavy demand for exports is bolstering buyer sentiments for progressive purchases of beans, supporting a rally in the domestic bourse,” AnandRathi Commodities Ltd. said in a report yesterday.

Soybeans have jumped 10 percent this month on the National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange in Mumbai as an extended monsoon season delayed harvests in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, the biggest producers. November-delivery futures climbed 0.8 percent to 2,247 rupees ($50.66) per 100 kilograms yesterday.

Daily market arrivals of soybeans have risen to about 1 million bags of 50 kilograms each a day, from about 600,000 bags last week, and may drop during the Diwali holiday on Nov. 5, Agrawal said.

A yellow mosaic virus attack on plants in some areas in Madhya Pradesh may damage about 200,000 to 300,000 tons of oilseeds, according to an initial assessment, he said. A rebound in output in Maharashtra may make up for the shortfall, he said.

Production may total 10.1 million tons this crop year as average yield per hectare will increase 8 percent to 1,089 kilograms because of a stronger-than-normal monsoon, the processors’ group said on Sept. 30.

Source : bloomberg.com