During the April-June quarter of 2023-24, India’s overall oil meal export increased by 19% year-on-year. The increasing demand for India’s non-Genetically Modified (non-GM), low pricing and favourable exchange rates, have enabled India to become a leading exporter of oil meals in the international market.
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Oil meal is a by-product of the oil industry. Oil meal or oilseed meal cake refers to the protein-rich substance left after the oil is extracted from the seed. This dry extract of oil is widely used for animal feed and the food industry. As oil meal products contain various types of amino acids like lysine and methionine, the demand for these products is growing rapidly in various sectors such as healthcare and nutraceuticals. In addition, increasing demand for oil meals in the animal feed industry as a key protein-enriched meal has a positive impact on the growth of the oil meal market globally.
India’s non-genetically modified oil meals are in high demand across the world. Major importers of Indian oil meals are the US, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, and other European nations. India also exports oil meals to Southeast Asian and Middle East nations.
Export of oil meals during April-June 2023-24
India exported 1,210,045 tonnes of oil meals during the first quarter (Q1) of 2023-24, showing a growth of 19.09% year-on-year. Overall oil meal exports during Q1, 2022-23 were recorded at 1,016,031 tonnes. This follows a strong surge in FY 2022-23, wherein India exported 43.36 lakh tonnes (lt) of oilmeals valued ₹11,401.30 crore compared to 23.74 lt valued ₹5,607.09 crore in 2021-22.
Southeast Asia is the major importer of Indian soyabean oil meal. India not only has a logistics advantage, but it can also supply oil meals in small quantities to Southeast Asia. As Indian soyabean meal is Non-GMO (Genetically Modified Organism), the US and some European countries also prefer India’s soyabean oil meal over Genetically Modified (GM) soyabean oil meal, which is largely grown in the US, Brazil, and Argentina.
Major oil meal exports (April-June)
Source: Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA)
Exports of soyabean meal by India increased to 364,611 tonnes in Q1 2023-24, as against 75,454 tonnes exported in the same period in 2022-23, growing by 383%. Castor-seed meal exports reached 90,750 tonnes during the period, growing by 9% YoY. India is among the major suppliers of rapeseed meal to South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and other far-east nations. However, Rapeseed meal exports dropped by 12.2% YoY to 6,20,738 tonnes during the period. Exports of Rice-bran extractions reached 125,582 tonnes, a fall by 15.7% YoY. Notably however, the month of June witnessed a decline in the exports of oil meals. Due to lower demand for rapeseed meals from overseas, oil meal shipments dipped by 35.86% YoY in June 2023 to 280,001 tonnes. Shipments of oil meals in May stood at 436,596 tonnes.
Major oil meal exports in May and June (2023)
Source: Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA)
In the month of June, India’s soyabean meal exports declined sharply to 73,139 tonnes as compared to 1,14,225 tonnes exported in May; Rapeseed meal export also dropped to 140,506 from the 233,663 tonnes exported in May; while the export of Castor seed meal was recorded at 17,512 tonnes down from 43,761 tonnes exported in May. However, the exports of rice bran extractions increased to 45,705 tonnes in June as against 42,398 tonnes exported in May. Groundnut meal exports saw a marginal increase from 2,546 tonnes in May to 3,138 tonnes in June.
Major importers of Indian oil meals
Major importers of Indian oil meals during Q1 of 2023-24 included South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and other far-east countries.
The following graph compares the increase/decrease in major oil meals imported by the 5 major importers of India’s oil meals, during the April-June quarter of 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Source: Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA)
Indian oil meals will continue to be in high demand
Despite the fall (35%) seen in the export of oil meals during the month of June, the overall exports of oil meals increased by 19% (yoy) in the April-June quarter. This indicates a steadily growing demand for Indian oil meals, further fuelled by rupee depreciation. The increasing demand for non-GM oil meals in India, low pricing and favourable exchange rates, have enabled India to become one of the leading exporters of oil meals in the international market.
Indian soyabean meals hold an advantage owing to their non-GM status, confirmed Mr BV Mehta, the Executive Director of The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India. He said that Western countries, due to high sensitivity towards environmental concerns, prefer the non-GM attribute of Indian soyabean meals.
