Export of oilmeals rose by 31 per cent to Rs 6,222 crore during the last fiscal year on higher volumes as well as price realisation, industry data showed.

The country had exported oilmeals worth Rs 4,762 crore during the 2017-18 fiscal, according to the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) data. In volume terms, the exports increased 6 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes in the 2018-19 fiscal year from 3.02 million tonnes in the previous year.

Shipment of rapeseed meal rose sharply to 10,51,869 tonnes from 6,63,988 tonnes. South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand were major importers of rapeseed meal. The export of soyabean meal also rose to 13,37,215 tonnes during the last fiscal from 11,87,818 tonnes in the previous year.

However, the outward shipment of rice-bran meal dropped to 4,40,927 tonnes from 594,129 tonnes. The export of castorseed meal was down to 3,67,084 tonnes from 5,72,762 tonnes.

The major importers of Indian oilmeals were Vietnam (6,15,403 tonnes), South Korea (7,38,795 tonnes), Thailand (3,02,619 tonnes), Taiwan (1,19,794 tonnes) and Iran (5,08,050 tonnes). Iranian market has once again opened up for Indian soybean meal. During the last fiscal, Iran imported over 5 lakh tonnes of soyabean meal as against just 23,000 tonnes in the previous year.