Fast growing pig population in China – the world’s biggest producer of pork – is likely to fuel India’s soya meal exports in the coming years. The Indian soya industry, which exports soya meal to South-East Asian countries, is now looking at China as a major export market.
China imports soyabean mostly from the US, which is crushed and the de-oiled cake (soya meal) is used as animal feed. With over 500 million pigs in its pen, it is not surprising that China’s demand for soyabean is growing year-on-year. China’s soyabean demand is projected to cross 65 million metric tonnes by 2015, a 16 million-tonne increase from last year. But the soyabean imports by China, mainly from the US, are projected to fall short of the demand.
Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) has identified China as a major market saying the growing Chinese demand “presents an opportunity for Indian soya meal exporters to increase their market share in the global soy meal feed exports.” India’s soya meal exports market sharestands at 4.8% in the global market.
Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA), headquartered at Indore, also concurs with this view. “China has been importing soya meal from India and also imports soyabean from other countries which is crushed to make soya meal. As Indian soya meal is cheaper than the West, China could be one of the major destinations for soya meal exports in the future,” SOPA coordinator Rajesh Agarwal told Hindustan Times.
{{/usCountry}}Soyabean Processors Association of India (SOPA), headquartered at Indore, also concurs with this view. “China has been importing soya meal from India and also imports soyabean from other countries which is crushed to make soya meal. As Indian soya meal is cheaper than the West, China could be one of the major destinations for soya meal exports in the future,” SOPA coordinator Rajesh Agarwal told Hindustan Times.
{{/usCountry}}The prices of Indian soya meal (at port) are in the range of $415 per metric tonne, about $20 cheaper than that offered by North and South America due to difference in freight charges.
India’s soyabean meal exports registered a growth of over 80% in the 2010-11 fiscal as compared to the previous year.