The demand for soybean meal in the animal and bird feed industry has dropped due to the avian flu outbreak reported in different parts of the country, an official said here on Wednesday. The demand for domestic consumption of the protein- rich feed is likely to reduce by one lakh tonne in January, the official said. Industries producing animal feed in the country had procured 5.5 lakh tonne of soybean meal in December 2020. We were expecting the same amount of procurement in January too, but after bird flu, the demand has reduced, said Davish Jain, chairman of Indore-based Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA).
India s soybean meal (soybean khali) exports rose nearly three times to 2.68 lakh tonnes during December last year on higher demand in the global market, SOPA said on Monday. In December 2019, soybean meal exports stood at 90,000 tonnes, as per data released by Indore-based Soybean Processors Association of India (SOPA). France (43,257 tonnes) and Iran (41,500 tonnes) were among the biggest importers of Indian soybean meal in December, the data showed. The leftover product after extracting soybean oil is called soybean meal. India s soybean meal exports grew two-and-a-half times to 5.99 lakh tonnes during the first quarter of current oil marketing year (October 2020-September 2021). During the previous oil marketing year, 2.36 lakh tonnes of soybean meal was exported from the country during October-December.