MUMBAI (Commoditiescontrol) – Exports of oilmeals during the period April-September 2015 have declined, as compared to the same period a year ago, as high soybean seed prices and increased crushing disparity has resulted into a lower production and, hence, dip in exports to historical low.
According to the data released by Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA), the export of oilmeals have dropped 29 per cent from a year ago period due to reduced crushing parity and high price prevailing in the domestic market. This has highly affected the availability of both oils and meals in domestic mandies.
Export of soybean meal during April-September 2015 have dropped to 42,743 metric tonnes, ie almost 61 per cent from the same period a year ago. Adding to the data, rapeseed meal has recorded a dip of around 50 per cent y-o-y. However, groundnut, ricebran and castor seed meal have witnessed gains, ranging between 11 per cent to 47 per cent on an average.
The y-o-y data for the financial year 2014-15 (FY2014-15) commencing from April 2014 and ending as on March 2015, has also shown a fall over the previous fiscal period. Export of oilmeals during the current FY2014-15 has decreased 43 per cent, compared to a year ago.
Interestingly, export of rapeseed meal has slid upwards to increase almost 17 per cent, while ground nut and castor seed meal has dropped 8 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.
Capacity utilization is at the lowest and many plants have closed down due to disparity in crushing and export. It is to be further noted that among the major importers of oilmeals, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and Myanmar have recorded steep decline during the six monthly period of April-September, 2015 compared to same period a year ago. On the other hand, South Korea, Vietnam and Oman have shown increase in imports, anything between 0.68 per cent to 75 per cent.
Moving further, exports from all major ports have also taken a downturn. Except for Kolkata port, all other ports have recorded steep decline. They include Kandla, Mumbai JNPT and Mundra ports, to name a few.
Rupee - the domestic currency depreciation has provided some cushion to the average free-on-board (FOB) prices for oilmeal during the period July 2015-August 2015. Also, a weaker currency lends support to exports. But, export of oilmeals for the period April-September 2015 has declined, despite a depreciated Indian rupee. This implies, that either overseas market have reduced their dependency on foreign imports or have shifted to other cheaper substitutes.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau; +91-22-61391523)