India Soymeal Export Deals At 400,000t

They said Singapore-based Peter Cremer had contracted for 130,000 tonnes and G Premjee had brought 35,000 tonnes.

Germany's Toeffer International had contracted for 80,000 tonnes.

Cargill Hong Kong had signed deals for 45,000 tonnes and Hong Kong based Concordia had traded for 60,000 tonnes.

The details of the remaining 50,000 tonnes of soymeal contracts were not available.

Among the main Indian sellers were OILFED, Gujarat Ambuja, Prestige Foods, Ruchi Soya Industries and State Trading Corporation, traders said.

Soymeal exports prices for September-October shipments had surged to around $298-300 f.a.s per tonne, which was around $185-188 per tonne during the start of the season in the month of November.

 

Current soymeal arrivals in the markets of central India had dipped to around 70 tonnes per day compared to around 2,000 tonnes last November, traders said.

Soymeal contracts for the November-January shipments were currently quoted at $284-285 per tonne, which had risen from $238 per tonne due to good overseas demand, they said.

Around 750 tonnes per day of new soyabean has started arriving in some western Indian markets.

It was quoted at around 9,300-10,100 rupees per tonne.

However, harvesting had not started in central India, which accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the country's total soybean production, traders said.

The Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) have made a crop output estimate for 1996-97 (Nov-Oct) of about four million tonnes.

Good monsoon rains in the coming fortnight could push up the output by another 400,000 tonnes.

It may be noted that September last week and October first week rains would be a crucial factor in pushing up production by about 10 per cent,