New Delhi: Export of oilmeal, used as animal feed, fell by 41 percent to 1.81 lakh tonnes during February this year due to sharp drop in shipments of soyabean meal, industry body SEA said today.
The country had shipped 3.07 lakh tonnes of oilmeal in the same month previous year.
"Export of soybean meal has greatly reduced in last 11 months due to total disparity for soybean meal in global market," the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said in a statement.
Soybean meal prices at freight on board (FOB) slipped to USD 458 a tonne in February this year, from USD 569 a tonne in the year-ago, the SEA data showed.
Of total exports, soyabean meal shipments fell by 65 percent to 64,514 tonnes in February this year, as against 1,83,550 tonnes in the year-ago period.
Similarly, export of rapeseed meal also declined to 62,545 tonnes from 82,294 tonnes, the SEA data showed.
However the export of castorseed meal rose to 51,494 tonnes in February this year as against 39,816 tonnes, while the shipment of ricebran extraction rose to 3,380 tonnes from 1,500 tonnes in the review period.
During the April-February period of the 2014-15 fiscal, total oilmeal exports declined by 43 percent to 22.29 lakh tonnes as compared to 39.33 lakh tonnes in the same period corresponding year.
India mainly exports oilmeal to countries such as South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Iran and European nations.
