India's oilmeal exports fell 14.23 percent in January to 549,716 tonnes, a top trade body said on Tuesday, which analysts said was primarily due to a ban on the country's oilmeal imports by China. Soymeal exports, which account for bulk of India's oilmeal sales, were at 474,993 tonnes in January, down 17.39 percent from a year ago, the Solvent Extractors' Association of India said in a statement on Tuesday.
Exports of rapeseed meal in January rose 7.54 percent to 45,606 tonnes as compared to 42,409 tonnes a year ago. "Suspension of oilmeal imports by China from India and continued rise in prices have hit the demand for oilmeals in January," said Chowda Reddy, senior analyst at JRG Wealth Management. Reddy, however, expects exports to improve in coming months due to overall good demand for oilmeals.
Beijing has halted imports of oilmeals from India after it found a hazardous chemical in product last year, threatening about half of India's rapeseed exports and potentially cutting its overall feedstock sales to China by over 10 percent. Shipments in April-January were up at 4.4 million tonnes from 3.8 million tonnes in the year-ago period due to better soybean crop, fall in rupee and crushing parity, the statement said. During this period, Japan, Vietnam and South Korea were the top three buyers. Exports to Middle East countries during the first ten months of the current financial year rose to 487,149 tonnes from 371,826 tonnes a year ago.
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