Triggered by a sharp surge in soymeal exports, India's overall oilmeal exports reported an increase of 54 per cent for the April-July period at 638,468 tonnes, against 413,341 tonnes reported in the same period last year.

Data compiled by the Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA) show that India's soybean meal exports for the four-month period stood at 4.69 lakh tonnes as compared to 1.19 lakh tonnes in the same period of the previous year, showing a surge of 292 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

Overall oilmeal exports registered a growth of 54 per cent for the period under review. “In last three months, the export of oilmeals improved compared to the previous year, thanks to good monsoon, better oilseeds production and price parity,” said the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA).

“In percentage terms, exports are showing an improvement, but are still lower compared to earlier years,” the association added.

It may also be noted that India faced droughts in 2014-15 and 2015-16, which led to lower production of oilseeds, bringing exports to a low level.

However, the good monsoon last year saw exports revive to some extent, the SEA added.

SOPA, however, maintained that during the current oil year (October 2017 — September 2017), total soymeal exports from October 2016 to July 2017 stood at 16.46 lakh tonnes as against 3.48 lakh tonnes during the same period last year, registering an increase of 372.72 per cent.