India oilmeal exports fall on weak soybean meal

The decline matters because soybean meal is the value driver in India’s oilmeal basket and a key input for livestock and poultry feed markets abroad. When those shipments weaken, export revenues, crushing margins and the spillover benefits to ports, freight and farmgate demand all come under pressure. The fall also signals that India is losing competitiveness in a market increasingly dominated by cheaper supplies from Argentina and Brazil.

SEA Executive Director BV Mehta said Indian soybean meal is facing severe pricing disadvantages globally, while high domestic prices and strong local demand from the animal feed and livestock sectors are limiting exportable surplus. That means crushers are caught between firmer local offtake and weaker overseas demand, a combination that can cap processing volumes even when raw bean availability is sufficient.

Rapeseed meal was the main offset, rising to 6.60 lakh tonnes from 5.31 lakh tonnes a year earlier. China remained the biggest buyer of Indian oilmeals in the quarter, taking 3.13 lakh tonnes, including 3.09 lakh tonnes of rapeseed meal. Bangladesh and Vietnam also increased purchases, helping cushion the broader decline, but not enough to fully replace the lost soybean meal business.

The export slump also comes against a logistics backdrop that continues to weigh on Indian agricultural trade. Lingering Red Sea disruptions and higher freight rates are still hurting realizations and complicating routes to traditional Western buyers, adding another layer of cost pressure to a market already shaped by commodity price competition.

For investors, the read-through is mixed. Lower soybean meal exports are a negative for Indian oilseed processors and exporters that rely on overseas demand to support crush economics. Rapeseed meal strength offers some support, but it does not fully offset the margin hit from weaker soybean meal shipments. Globally, the shift reinforces the advantage of larger South American exporters, while buyers in Asia may continue to diversify toward cheaper origins.

The next few quarters will hinge on whether Indian soybean meal can regain price competitiveness, whether domestic feed demand stays strong enough to keep supplies tight, and whether freight conditions improve. Until then, the trend points to a softer export environment for India’s oilmeal sector even as pockets of demand remain intact in Asia.