Indian oils: trade upbeat on soyabean crop, meal exports

India's production of soyabeans in 2007/08 is expected to exceed the 7.5 million tonne harvest of the year before, with sowing in full swing as monsoon rains arrive in key growing regions, traders said on Tuesday. Demand for Indian soyameal is likely to rise from October due to a forecast fall in output in the United States, they said.
"Sowing has been very swift and heavy rains will lead to fast seed germination, helping farmers in their efforts to boost production," Dervish Jain, chairman of the Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade, told Reuters. Jain said it was forecast output for the year to September 2008, but he was confident the figure would be above the year-ago number of 7.5 million tonnes.
India grows two oilseeds crops. Its main crops, like soyabean and groundnut, are sown as the monsoon rains arrive in June and are harvested in October. Winter crop sowing mainly of rapeseed starts in October with the harvest beginning in March. Soyabean is mainly grown in the central state of Madly Prudish and western states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Farmers have so far planted soyabean on 65 percent of the total cultivable area put aside for the crop in Madly Prudish, and hope to complete sowing within the next 20 days, an oilseed trader from the western state of Gujarat said.
"Higher output is good for us as global demand is seen exceeding supplies due to an impending shortage in the US," Jain said. He said US farmers had extended corn cultivation at the expense of soyabean, as they are able to make greater profits from strong demand for ethanol, a bifocal made from corn or sugarcane.
India has exported around 3.4-3.5 million tonnes of soyameal in the crop year that began in October 2006, against 4.5 million tonnes shipped in the year before, at an average price of $220-230 a tonne.
"Next year we hope to export at $280 free on board or even higher due to a lingering global shortage," Jain said. India exports soyameal mainly to South Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, Japan, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.