India's peak season soyameal exports have been hit by congestion at the key port of Kandla with some firms forced to pay penalties for late shipments, a senior industry official said on Monday.
Davish Jain, president of the Central Organisation for Oil Industry and Trade, said ships were waiting for up to two weeks to find a berth as wheat and fertiliser imports clogged over stretched ports. "It is difficult to fix a vessel out of Kandla now because nobody is interested in waiting that long. And more than 60 percent of soyameal exports take place from Kandla," he said.
Normally 500,000 to 600,000 tonnes of soyameal exported every month during peak season, which runs from mid-October to March, Jain added. The main importers of Indian meal are South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Thailand.
Jain said that no contracts had been cancelled because of the delays but exporters were having to penalties of $5-10 per tonne for late shipments. He said the majority of the export orders had been struck at around $225 per tonne free alongside ships.
Kandla is being used by the Indian government for its first wheat imports in six years following a poor crop. Earlier this month, the government said it was trying to clear a wheat backlog at Kandla by deploying more railway wagons and labourers.
But Jain said problems persist. "We can't say how long this situation would continue," he said. Many of soyameal exporters were shipping their goods from other ports like Bedibunder in western India's Jamnagar town, Vizag on the eastern coast, and Mumbai incurring higher costs.