India's soyameal exports in March has soared to 750,000 tonnes, a record for the month, as a bird flu outbreak and buoyant supplies reduced domestic demand and brought down prices, an industry official said Friday.
Exports in the same month last year were 225,000 tonnes. Demand for India's soyameal was strong from China, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia, Rajesh Agrawal, chairman of the Soyabean Processors Association of India, said.
Prices have fallen 500 to 600 rupees a tonne to 8,750 rupees ($196) as the avian flu outbreak led to massive culling in India's western state of Maharashtra, slashing domestic demand for feedstock, he said.
Agrawal said exports during October-March, the first six months of the crop year, would more than double to 2.7 million tonnes from 1.15 million tonnes in the same period a year ago. India has culled hundreds of thousands of chickens and monitored thousands of people since February after the first two outbreaks in Maharashtra.
But it has reported no human case. On Tuesday, India reported seven new cases of bird flu in poultry in Maharashtra and one case in neighbouring Madly Pradesh.
But authorities have sought to play down the third outbreak, saying it should not be treated as a fresh eruption of cases because the infections reported on Tuesday were from the same area earlier identified as a bird flu zone.
Agrawal said domestic sales have fallen by 100,000 tonnes since the start of February, and the outlook was clouded. "We were expecting domestic sales to be between 2.2 to 2.3 million tonnes this year. Now the bird flu may mean that it will be at around last year's level or a little better," he said.
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