India's oilmeals exports dropped by 73% in August at 98,871 tonnes compared to previous year same month's 359,752 tonnes. The overall export of oilmeals during April-August 2019 dipped to 10,16,682 tonnes as compared to 13,26,626 tonnes in April-August 2018. The dip in oilmeals shipments mainly accounts to higher domestic prices of soybean meal. The higher Minimum Support Price (MSP) of soybean made the domestic oilmeal expensive in international markets compared to other origins.
The soybean meal shipments declined to 265,409 tonnes from 371,769 tonnes, while exports of castor seed meal increased to 247,820 tonnes during April-August 2019 from 188,040 tonnes in the corresponding period of the previous year. Shipments of rapeseed meals contracted to 414,805 tonnes from 565,007 tonnes.
During April-August 2019, Vietnam imported 147,869 tonnes of oilmeals as against 265,699 tonnes in the year-ago period, while South Korea imported 398,048 tonnes of oilmeals compared to 431,084 tonnes earlier. Thailand imported 118,178 tonnes of oil meals as against previous year same period's 135,229 tonnes.