Our Bureau Amid the US-China trade war, the Indian oilmeal sector has spotted an opportunity for the possible resumption of Chinese imports of Indian oilmeals.
The Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) has expressed a hope that China may reconsider the ban on Indian oilmeal imports it had imposed in 2012.
“Prior to the, China used to import nearly half a million tonnes of oilmeals including 3.5-4 lakh tonnes (lt) of rapeseed meal and one lakh tonnes of soybean meal from India. The ongoing trade dispute between the USA and China has forced China to look at other sources,” said B V Mehta, executive director, SEA.
This is likely to open up the Chinese market for India subject to clarification about phytosanitory certificate for export of oilmeals from India. SEA has requested the Commerce Ministry to seek clarification from Chinese AQSIQ authority about phytosanitory certificate conditions, said Mehta.
Industry sources said China had banned Indian oilmeal earlier after India had banned milk products import from China. It had also alleged presence of malachite green, an organic chemical, in rapeseed meal.
In its recent data on export of oilmeals, SEA noted that overall export of oilmeal for the period April to June 2018 has increased by 9 per cent to 6.5 lt as against 5.9 lt during the same period of last year. The export of rapeseed meal has jumped by nearly 90 per cent to about 1.35 lt in first three months, mainly driven by exports to South Korea and Thailand.
During the period under review, April-June 2018 Vietnam imported 1.16 lt of oilmeals (compared with 86,458 tonnes last year); South Korea 1.32 lt (2.33 lt); Thailand 1.01 lt (35,169 tonnes); and France 42,550 tonnes (5,241 tonnes).
Source:- Thehindubusinessline.com
