Japan imported about 60,000 tonnes soymeal from India this week, indicating a revival in demand after the twin disasters of an earthquake and tsunami, but import enquiries waned from major Asian wheat importers who have stocked up on the grain.There had been expectation that soymeal exports from India, Asia's leading supplier, would have been hit due to poor demand from Japan, which imports an average 1 million tonnes of the feedstock from the south Asian nation.
Last month, a senior industry official had said India's oilmeal exports to Japan, Asia's top feedstocks market, was likely to halve in March due to uncertainty over shipments. Japan bought 4-5 vessels of Indian soymeal at $435-$439 per tonne, including cost and freight, Vijay Shrishrimal, managing director of top exporter K.N. Resources Pvt Ltd, told Reuters.
The cargoes are for April-May delivery. "Surprisingly, demand from Japan is back to normal now. It seems that the fear of a dramatic fall in demand from Japan was largely misplaced. In fact, we have had not a single default, cancellation or diversion of contracts," Shrishrimal said. He said Japan was likely to import 1.2 million tonnes of the animal feed from India in the new season from October 1, marginally higher than 1.1 million tonnes a year earlier. India had exported 2.6 million tonnes of soymeal between October 1 and February 28, up from 1.3 million tonnes in the year ago period, industry officials said.