India’s oilmeal exports fall 28.5% between April and August as soybean meal loses ground to Brazil and Argentina

India’s exports of oilmeal, which is mainly used as animal feed, fell 28.51% to 12.82 lakh tonnes in the April-August period of the current financial year as a slump in soybean meal sales weighed on shipments, an industry body said on Monday (Nov 9, 2026).

Exports stood at 17.93 million tonnes in the same period a year earlier, the Solvent Extractors Association of India (SEA) said. The total export of oil meal in the financial year 2025-26 was 37.68 million tonnes.

Soybean meal exports fell 73% to 2,05,000 tonnes from 7,57,000 tonnes a year earlier.

“Indian soybean meal faced strong price pressure in international markets in August 2026, trading around $622 per tonne compared to global benchmarks of nearly $445 per tonne,” SEA said in a statement.

Cheaper supplies from South American producers such as Argentina and Brazil continue to gain significant market share, he added. Strong domestic demand from livestock and poultry feed producers, along with ongoing Red Sea shipping outages and high sea freight costs, also limited outbound shipments, SEA said.

Rape meal exports provided a partial cushion with sales to key Asian buyers including China, Bangladesh and Vietnam, the association said. Deliveries of canola meal totaled 8,80,000 tonnes compared to 9,15,000 tonnes a year earlier.

Chickpea meal exports fell to 96,245 tonnes from 1,06,000 tonnes, while groundnut meal exports fell to 3,231 tonnes from 14,960 tonnes.

China, Bangladesh, South Korea and Vietnam were the main importers of Indian flour in April-August, SEA data showed.

China bought 4,01,000 tonnes compared to 3,75,356 tonnes a year earlier, including 3,94,856 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 4,528 tonnes of soybean meal and 1,616 tonnes of castor meal.

Bangladesh imported 2,17,194 tonnes against 1,78,190 tonnes, including 2,08,079 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 8,204 tonnes of soybean meal and 911 tonnes of extracted rice bran.

South Korea bought 1,53,932 tonnes, down from 2,09,887 tonnes, comprising 86,636 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 48,796 tonnes of castor bean meal and 18,458 tonnes of soybean meal.

Vietnam bought 1,23,951 tons out of 92,189 tons, including 65,510 tons of extracted rice bran, 53,580 tons of rapeseed meal, 4,600 tons of soybean meal and 261 tons of groundnut meal.

Published – 9 Nov 2026 14:20 IST