Foreign buyers concerned about the poor quality of soymeal are hesitant to strike fresh deals, traders said on Saturday.
The quality of soymeal is very poor this year because of adverse weather in Central India, said a trader.
Traders said some 100,000 tonne of soymeal had been rejected at various ports in India and roughly the same quantity was returned from their destinations abroad.
Unseasonal rains in the last two weeks have affected the quality of soybeans, they said.
The moisture content in Indian soymeal was high at 12.5-16.0 per cent against a specified 11-12 per cent, they said.
Protein content has also fallen to 44-46.5 per cent from a specified 48 per cent, one trader said.
About 1.5 million tonne of soymeal was traded during 1997/98 (November-October), down from 1.7 million tonne in the year-earlier period.
Prices have also fallen. Current soymeal export prices were quoted at $236-237 per tonne FAS (free along side) for west Indian ports against $270-272 a year ago.
Soybean arrivals are estimated at 20,000 tonne per day in Central India, same as last year.
Soybean prices were steady at Rs 10,600-11,000 ($271-281) per tonne in Central India against Rs 10,900-11,300 a year ago, traders further added.
Reports from the market say that traders feel that about two million tonne of soybean has arrived in the markets out of a crop of 5.3 million tonne this year and around 1.6 million tonne has been processed.
