Oilmeal exports at 5.01 lakh tn in April

Oilmeal exports in April this year jumped more than two-fold to 5.01 lakh tonne on the back of record output of oilseeds and increased demand from Japan and China, according to an industry data. 

The country had shipped 2.04 lakh tonne of oilmeal (used as cattle and poultry feed) in the same month last year.

"The oilmeal exports during the first six months of oil year (November 2010-April 2011) doubled due to record production of oilseeds during rabi and kharif seasons," Mumbai-based Solvent Extractors Association (SEA) Executive Director B V Mehta said in a statement.

Other reasons were increased crushing activity boosted the overall availability of oilmeals both for domestic and export and good crushing parity due to high price of oils and export demand for oilmeals, he added.

In the first six months of the oil year 2010-11, India's oilmeals exports rose by almost 120% to 2.88 million tonne as compared to 1.31 million tonne in the year-ago period, SEA data said.

Oil year is from November to October.

Japan topped the list of oilmeal-importing countries with an increase of more than two-fold to 1,02,775 tonne in April 2011 as compared to 35,363 tonne in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Oilmeal exports to China in the period under review rose by more than 80% to 85,111 tonne against 46,254 tonne in the same period last year. Vietnam, South Korea, Iran and Europe were the other major destinations where India exported oilmeals in the April this year.