Indian soybean meal exporters are feeling pressure

Introduction: as China and the United States strengthen their soybean meal sales to Asia, Indian soybean meal exporters are feeling pressure to keep their share of the Asian market As Chinese soybean meal exporters are opening up new markets in Asia to sell surplus soybean meal at home Asian oilseed traders expect India, the Asian soybean meal supplier, to find that the current market year will not be peaceful The annual soybean meal in India starts in November and can be sold until April, after which the soybean meal supply in South America starts to be listed Indian traders expect this trend to continue in the short term, as demand for Indian soybean meal has suddenly declined, which has led to a reduction in the processing volume of Indian mills One Singaporean trader said India now has rivals Their export market suddenly fell by a quarter So far, in the current market year ending in October 2002, India has signed an export contract of 1.4 million tons of soybean meal, of which 800000 tons have been shipped In the same period last year, the export volume reached 2.2 million tons to 2.3 million tons Large feed mills that can afford to buy Panamax ships can buy from the United States, while smaller soybean meal buyers find Chinese meal a good alternative to Indian supplies Both China and India can provide small tonnage freighters to transport about 100000 to 12000 tons of soybean meal per ship [Chinese soybean meal dominates the market] traders said that Japan usually purchases 300000 tons of soybean meal from India every year, and they are also looking at Chinese soybean meal in the near future Indonesia is usually the number one buyer of Indian soybean meal This year, Indonesia also increased its procurement from the United States Thanks to the agricultural export credit guarantee project of the United States, which is known as gsm102 project In the near future, South Korea and Indonesia have also reduced their purchases of soybean meal from India, where buyers have already purchased what they need between March and April Regional oilseed traders said the sudden market preference for Chinese soybean meal led to lower prices in India, and the market share of Indian soybean meal may be further reduced Compared with a week ago, the recent FOB price of Indian soybean meal has dropped from $180 per ton to around $171, compared with the CNF price of American high protein soybean meal in Southeast Asia of less than $210 per ton Although the FOB price of Chinese soybean meal is about $176 per ton, the cost of Chinese soybean meal is competitive with that of Indian soybean meal due to its low freight to some destinations, such as Vietnam and Japan Traders say many Indian mills have slashed processing volumes as global soybean meal prices have fallen while domestic soybean prices remain relatively high Soybean traders are reluctant to sell their stocks, hoping for higher prices in the future A regional trader said that the price of soybeans in India is too expensive People buy soybeans early in the hope that the price of soybeans will go up These buyers pushed up the price of soybeans, but they ignored the fact that the price of soybean meal was too expensive to do business According to the association of soybean processing plants in India, soybean production in India is estimated to be 5.4 million tons this year, up from 5.01 million tons in the previous year.