Declining demand from its main trading partners has resulted in a sharp dip in India’s oilmeal exports in the April-July period of the current fiscal. According to the data collected by the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA), oilmeal exports have seen a 60% year-on-year drop in wake of the global economic recession. Non-availability of adequate meal has also hit the exports.
The decline was even sharper in the month of July at 173,329 tonne, down 63% from the same month last year. Total oilmeal exports during the four months ended July 30, 2009 were placed at 0.76 million tonne compared with 1.9 million tonne during the same period a year-ago.
According to the SEA, while the oilmeal exports recorded a sharp decline to most of the markets, the only silver lining was that the Chinese offtake was up by 4% on year-on-year basis. Indian’ oilmeal export to the China stood at 1.4 lakh tonne against 1.3 lakh tonne a year ago. However, other key markets like Japan, South Korea and Indonesia have witnessed sharp decline.
Oilmeal exports to Japan declined by over 60% to 84,493 tonne compared with 2.2 lakh tonne a year ago while that to South Korea declined by 62% to 1.1 lakh tonne in the first four months of the fiscal from 2.9 lakh tonne in the same period last year. Exports to Indonesia also witnessed a sharp plunge of 56% at 65,820 tonne against 1.5 lakh tonne.