The country's oilmeal exports declined by 51 per cent to 1.62 lakh tonne in November of this year due to sluggish export of soybean meal, industry body SEA said on Friday.

       Since India is currently outpriced for soybean meal export as compared with other countries like Brazil and Argentina, the country is unlikely to undertake shipments in the next two-three months, it said in a statement.

       The country had exported 3.32 lakh tonne of oilmeal in the same month previous year. Oilmeals are used as animal feed in poultry and other sectors.

       According to the latest data released by the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA), export of soybean meal declined to 42,383 tonne in November of this year from 1,98,776 tonne in the year-ago period.

       "Soybean crush margins in India are currently squeezed by pressure on meal prices and relatively high price expectation of farmers for soybean seed which is currently quoted over Rs 6,400 per quintal," it said.

       Soybean meal for export at ex-Kandla port in India is quoted at USD 710 per tonne as against Brazil origin USD 413 per tonne and Argentina's USD 469 at ex-Rotterdam, it said.

       "India is unlikely to export in next two to three months due to high price of domestic soybean seed," it noted.

       As per the data, export of rapeseed extraction declined to 42,383 tonne in November this year as against 45,050 tonne in the year-ago period.

       Similarly, castorseed extraction dropped to 28,876 tonne from 37,256 tonne, while that of ricebran extraction fell to 48,232 tonne from 50,089 tonne in the said period.

       SEA said ricebran extraction is performing better due to larger demand from Vietnam and Bangladesh, it added.

       Total export of oilmeal during April-November period of the current fiscal declined by 18 per cent to 15.96 lakh tonne when compared with 19.51 lakh tonne in the year-ago period.

       Southeast Asian nations, the Middle East as well as European countries like Germany besides the US are the main export market for Indian oilmeals.

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