India soybean, soyoil drop on subdued demand.

 MUMBAI: Indian soybean and soyoil futures extended the previous session's losses on Monday on weak exporter demand due to a sharp fall in overseas prices and as the country's edible oil imports rose, analysts said.

A weak rupee, which makes edible oil imports expensive and at the same time raises returns of oilmeal exporters, limited the downside.

Malaysian palm oil futures were down 2.17 percent at 3,204 ringgit per tonne by 0743 GMT, while U.S. soybean dropped 1.39 percent to $13.86-1/2 per bushel.

"The competitiveness of Indian soymeal has gone down due to a fall in prices in other countries. Indian soymeal exporters are not in position to charge hefty premium over overseas markets," said Subhranil Dey, an analyst with SMC Comtrade.

"In the local spot market, oil millers have trimmed soybean buying as demand for oil is weak. Besides higher availability from imports means demand to remain weak in short-term," Dey said. Soybean is crushed to produce oil and meal.

The country imported 4.71 million tonnes of vegetable oils in November to April, up 31 percent from a year ago period, data with a leading trade body showed.

June soyoil on India's National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange fell 0.92 percent to 734.8 rupees per 10 kg, after hitting a record high of 791.4 rupees last month.

The June soybean dropped 1.65 percent to 3,343 rupees per 100 kg, after hitting a record high of 3,785 rupees earlier this month, while rapeseed for June delivery edged up 0.29 percent to 3,834 rupees per 100 kg.

In the Indore spot market in Madhya Pradesh, soyoil eased 4.1 rupees to 726.6 rupees per 10 kg, while soybean was down 29 rupees at 3,372 rupees per 100 kg. At Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, rapeseed dropped 20 rupees to 3,762.5 per 100 kg.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com