India hopes to double its annual 500,000 tonnes of oilmeal exports to China in the next three years, the chief of a leading Indian industry body said on Friday. India, a leading supplier of oilmeal in Asia, traditionally also exports to Vietnam, South Korea and Japan.
"I have just come back from China where we interacted with a number of market participants and realised we can easily double our annual oilmeal exports of 500,000 tonnes," B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA), told Reuters in an interview.
China imported 536,000 tonnes of oilmeal from India in the year to March 2011, up from 330,000 tonnes in the previous year, Mehta said. "In 2008/09, we had exported 420,000 tonnes," he said. Mehta said China currently imports a total of 2.5 million tonnes of oilmeal, including 1 million tonnes of rapeseed meal.
India's oilmeal exports to China jumped to 85,111 tonnes in April against 46,254 tonnes in the same month last year. China's imports of soyabeans, used to make soyameal which is one of the oilmeals, are expected to be around 55.8 million tonnes in the year to September 2011 - dwarfing its imports of animal feed in the form of oilmeal. Mehta said India's oilmeal had a price advantage over competitors because of its proximity to China. "When it comes to rapeseed meal, we have a clear advantage. Our rapeseed meal is cheaper by $75-$80 a tonne in comparison with the supplies to China from Canada and Australia," Mehta said.
He added that there should be good availability as rapeseed output is set to increase this year. Rapeseed output is likely go up by 12 percent to 7.4 million tonnes in 2011, the farm ministry forecast last month. In February, Mehta forecast 2011 rapeseed output at 6.85 million tonnes, 16 percent higher than the previous year. Indian meal is preferred as it is not genetically modified unlike much of the supplies from Brazil and Argentina.
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