Indian soyameal exports declined to 22% during the first 8 months of the current financial year as compared to similar period of previous year thanks to Japan, a big importer of Indian soyameal shifting to GM soyameal, lifting of sanctions on Iran and stiff competition from other countries.
The export of oilmeals during November 2015 is reported at 112,081 tonnes compared to 189,032 tonnes in November 2014, down by 41%. The overall export of oilmeals during April-November 2015 too is reduced by 38% compared to last year and reported at 895,646 tonnes compared to 1,452,105 tonnes during the same period of last year.
“Soybean crushing is very much reduced due to continuous disparity and high price of domestic market affecting overall domestic availability of both oils and meals. Similarly rapeseed meal export is also reduced to one third of last year,” stated an Solvent Extractors’ Association of India release.
It added, “The capacity utilisation is at the lowest. Industry is passing through very tough time and many plants are close down or operating at very low capacity due to disparity in crushing and export.” In the wake of lifting sanctions, Iran shifted soybean meal buying from India to another origins. Currently India is out priced by USD 100 against other origins in Iranian market.
The export to Japan, Iran, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and Vietnam reduced considerably due to disparity in export in these regions against severe competition from other origins including China and Argentina.
Poultry Players demand for Duties removal on Maize and Soya Imports
With shortage of feed staring at it, the poultry industry has asked the Union Government to remove duties on import of maize and soya to bail out the farmers. Severe drought across the country has resulted in poor flow of maize and soya, the main feed for the industry.
“There will be a shortfall of 4 mt of maize and 2-3 mt of soya. This would mean an additional expenditure of 20-30 per cent than what we spend in a normal season. This would cause the industry heavy losses,” said G B Sundararajan, Managing Director of Suguna Foods Pvt Ltd, one of the largest poultry players in the country.
Price of maize is ruling at INR 1650 a quintal as against normal price of INR 1300, while soya is selling at INR 4000 a quintal as against last year’s INR 3000.
“The other challenge we face is huge import duties on vitamins, chemicals and amino acids. We don’t manufacture them here but are very crucial in the health of the birds. We are paying about 22 per cent duty on these items, making us less competitive internationally. We want the government to either remove the duties or reduce drastically,” a representative of a poultry firm, who doesn’t want to be quoted, said.
Centre’s response
The industry representatives submitted a memorandum to the Government to consider removal of the duties. The government has said it is actively considering removal of import duties on maize and soya as it did four years ago. “The government removed the duties in 2012 when the country faced a similar drought. We will discuss the poultry industry’s appeal. We will take it up with the Union Agriculture Minister,” Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, Joint Secretary, Government of India, said.
Source : Economic Times and Business Line
