The export of oilmeal, used as animal feed, dropped 78% to 58,549 tonne during the last month as shipments to Iran declined sharply because of US sanctions, industry body Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said
on Friday. The Association has compiled the export data for export of oilmeals for May 2019. The export of oilmeals during May 2019 provisionally reported at 58,549 tonne compared to 263,644 tonne in May 2018, a drop of 78%.
The country had exported 2,63,644 tonne of oilmeal in May 2018. India stopped importing crude oil from Iran from May 2 after the US sanction waiver expired and the US administration refused to extend it.
“Iran is a major export market for India as far as oilmeal is concerned. Because of the US sanction, our export volume has been affected badly. This trend will continue in the coming months,” SEA executive director BV Mehta said.
India was able to export only 17,385 tonne of soyabean extract to Iran during last month, the SEA data revealed.
The industry body, however, is trying other markets, especially China, to reopen for Indian oilmeal, Mehta said.
As per SEA’s latest data, soyabean meal export declined to 18,470 tonne in May 2019 from 76,026 tonne in the year-ago period.
Similarly, rapeseed meal shipment dropped to 19,519 tonne from 1,33,916 tonne, while that of rice bran extraction fell to 4,200 tonne from 45,382 tonne in the said period. However, the export of castorseed meal increased to 16,360 tonne in May this year from 8,172 tonne in the same month last year, the data showed. Total oilmeal exports during April-May declined 36% to 3,13,134 tonne from 4,87,995 tonne in the same period a year ago. Vietnam, South Korea, France, Bangladesh, Thailand and Germany are other major export destinations.
Source: financialexpress.com