Due to record shipment of rapeseed and soyabean meals, key ingredients in cattle feed, India’s exports of oilmeals rose by 70% to 3.29 million tonne (MT) during April-January (2022-23) compared to a year ago.

 

Industry sources said that the exports of oilmeals after extraction of oil from  rapeseed mustard, soyabean, rice bran and castor seeds in the current fiscal is likely to touch a record 4 MT because of robust global demand due to competitive prices offered by India.

 

South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Bangladesh and Taiwan are the key export destinations of oilmeals.

 

According Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India, the exports of rapeseed meals touched a record 1.91 MT in the first ten months of the current fiscal while surpassing the previous record exports of 1.24 MT in 2011-12.

 

According to BV Mehta, executive director, SEA, currently the country is supplying rapeseed meal to South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and other Far-East countries at $250/tonne (fob) while meal sourced from Germany is quoted at $428/tonne.

 

'The shipment of oilmeals from India takes about 8-10 days to reach Far-East countries while shipment from Europe takes about three weeks or more,' Mehta told FE.

 

He said the better realisation from rapeseed (mustard) oil and export of rapeseed meal has given a boost to domestic prices of mustard seed besides resulting into record sowing area under mustard this season.

 

Area under mustard in the current rabi season (2022-23) has been reported at a record 9.8 million hectare which is 64% more than last five years’ average sown area of 6.4 MH. In the 2021-22 season, mustard sown areas stood at 9.1 MH.

 

The agriculture ministry has projected mustard seed production for the current crop year (2022-23) at a record 12.81 million tonne (MT) against 11.96 MT of production estimated in previous crop year.

 

The export of soyabean meal rose by 77% to 0.55 MT during April-January of 2022-23 on year. Officials say that the fall in the domestic soyabean prices to around `4,700/quintal from a level of `7,640/quintal prevailing in April 2022 encouraged larger crushing of the crop and better price parity.

 

Until last week, soyabean meal price from Argentina was quoted at $619/tonne while India’s soyabean meal was quoted at $585/tonne. The soyabean seed production in the current crop year is estimated at a record 12.81 MT against 11.96 MT in the 2021-22 crop year.

 

The soyameal from India is largely exported to South East Asian countries because of logistical proximity and smaller lots size. 'Indian soyabean meal, being non-GMO, has an advantage and is preferred by certain European countries and the US,' according to a SEA note.

The India Pulses and Grains Association (IPGA) and IBRAFE, Brazil, have signed a MoU at the recently held sixth edition of the Pulses Conclave in Mumbai to establish co-operative actions to contribute to the food security of both countries. IBRAFE is the Brazilian Institute of Beans, Pulses and Special Crops.

 

As part of the MoU, both countries will take steps to foster the development of international trade between India and Brazil. The said MoU lays emphasis on market intelligence, food security, quality standards, trade promotion, technology transfer, incentive to investments, an IPGA statement said.

 

IPGA and IBRAFE shall work towards promoting pigeon peas (tur) and black matpe (urad) and any other pulses crop of mutual interest including research in pre-harvest and post-harvest activities.

The Vietnam Trade Office in India, in collaboration with the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India (Invest India) and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) held a teleconference on February 22 to step up business cooperation opportunities in farm produce and processed food.

 

Speaking at the event, Vietnamese Ambassador to India Nguyen Thanh Hai said the food processing sector accounts for 32% of the total food market and 14% of the manufacturing industry’s GDP of India. The sector is expected to draw 33 billion USD in investment in the next decade.

 

With a population of over 1.4 billion people, India is a promising market for Vietnam’s farm produce and processed food. Meanwhile, several kinds of India’s farm produce and processed food are likely to be sold well in Vietnam such as seafood, chili, spices, fruits and vegetables, he added.

 

Le Thanh Hoa, Deputy Director of the Agro Processing and Market Development Authority under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, said during 2021-2022, Vietnam’s farm produce exports to India reached 351 million USD, accounting for 1.3% of India’s total farm produce imports, a modest figure.

 

General Secretary of the Vietnam Fruit and Vegetables Association (Vinafruit) Dang Phuc Nguyen said more Vietnamese farm produce target meeting VietGAP and GlobalGAP standards.

 

He suggested both nations open their markets for fruits and vegetables and sign bilateral trade deals to facilitate trade in farm produce.

 

Vietnamese Commercial Counsellor in India Bui Trung Thuong wished that firms would continue joining trade exchange and market introduction programmes, particularly the upcoming event with the India state of Kerala on March 8 in the fields of agriculture, seafood and services.

 

In terms of agro-forestry-aquatic product trade, Vietnam is running a deficit with India, with 473.8 million USD in 2021 and 687.73 million USD in 2022.

Nayanan C.C. has taken a unique approach to farming and is making headlines with his tambo artwork. The paddy fields of Alappuzha, a district in the southern state of Kerala, come to life every year during the 'puncha' or first crop season. Vast stretches of green fields blanket the region as farmers work tirelessly to grow rice.

 

Nayanan C.C. is a Health department employee and paddy farmer from Thirumala ward in Alappuzha municipality. He has turned a small portion of his 110-acre Kombankuzhy pada sekharam (paddy field) into a canvas to promote organic farming and popularize traditional and medicinal rice varieties. His latest creation is a rice paddy artwork featuring the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, made by planting different colored varieties of rice in an intricate pattern.

 

The portrait was created using three varieties of rice – rakthashali, black rice, and nazar bath. Rakthashali and nazar baths were used to create the subject, while black rice was used in the space surrounding the subject. The artwork is designed to be viewed from above and was created to encourage others to take up organic farming and grow traditional and medicinal rice varieties. Nayanan hopes that his work will help conserve indigenous rice types, considering their health benefits.

 

To create the artwork, Nayanan was helped by artist E.D. Reji from Wayanad in drawing the design. He planted the saplings on December 24 last year, and the harvest is planned for April. His other rice paddy artwork is an image of a snake boat created in 2021.

 

Nayanan has been doing paddy farming for several years, but he began cultivating rice varieties with medicinal properties only after he started doing research on the problems and coping strategies of cancer patients and their families in Kuttanad. This season, he is growing different varieties of paddy on 4.5 acres of leased land at Kombankuzhy pada sekharam.

 

As an external research scholar at the Department of Sociology and Social Work at Annamalai University, Nayanan's work on organic farming and conservation of indigenous rice types has been widely recognized. He believes that organic farming and the use of traditional and medicinal rice varieties will not only benefit the health of the people but also contribute to the conservation of the environment.

 

Rice paddy art is not new in Kerala. In recent years, it has gained popularity in the region as an eco-friendly and unique way to promote farming and attract tourists. The art form is a traditional method of land use that has been used in Japan and other countries for centuries. It involves creating intricate designs by planting different colored varieties of rice in a paddy field.

 

Nayanan's rice paddy artwork is an example of how traditional and modern practices can come together to promote farming, conserve indigenous rice types, and preserve the environment. His unique approach to farming has not only made him a local celebrity but also an inspiration to many others who wish to promote organic farming and conserve traditional and medicinal rice varieties.

The ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR) has developed a new vertical farming structure for 'protected' cultivation of crops such as cabbage and cauliflower, besides flowers like lilium and gerbera.

 

The new structure, which can be as high as 12 feet, leads to effective space utilisation in a poly-house. This can result in productivity rising by up to six times compared with the conventional farming on a per unit area basis, scientists claimed.

 

The low-cost vertical farming structures consist of vertically stacked layers of around 11 tiers and have inbuilt wick-based drip irrigation in which the crops can be grown in bags containing soil-less substrate mix comprising coco-peat, vermicompost, paddy husk and spent mushroom, said C Aswath, Principal Scientist, IIHR.

 

With multiple stacked layers allowing increased utilisation of the unit area available in the poly-house by 5-6 times, and through higher planting density, the yield and productivity can be increased six times, Aswath said.

 

Planning to patent

The cost of setting up each of these structures which is one metre in width and three metres in breadth and about 12 feet in height comes around to Rs.25,000, Aswath said. IIHR has proposed a subsidy of 50 per cent under the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture for the wider adoption of the new structures by farmers practising poly-house cultivation in urban and semi-urban areas, he said.

 

IIHR has set up these new vertical farming structures at the Centre of Excellence on Protected Cultivation of Horticultural Crops at its premises in Hessarghatta, Bengaluru, to demonstrate the cultivation of high-value floriculture crops like lilium and high-value vegetables such as broccoli and purple cabbage. Safeena SA, Senior Scientist, IIHR, said the institute was looking at patenting the new vertical farming structure design.

 

At the upcoming National Horticulture Fair starting Wednesday (February 22), IIHR will provide training to the farmers on the vertical farming techniques.

 

With shrinking land resources, vertical farming, which helps produce more crops from small areas throughout the year, is seen as an innovative solution to help address the growing food demand.

 

This distinctive method of farming aims at higher productivity in smaller spaces making efficient use of the available vertical space and uses soil-less farming methods.

 

Other vegetable crops such as beans, cauliflower, various leafy vegetables, fruits like strawberries and flowers such as gerbera, gypsophilia, gladiolus can be grown under the vertical farming method, Aswath said.

An increase in the export of rapeseed meal and the revival of the export of soyabean meal helped India to register a growth of 167 per cent in the overall exports of oilmeals during January. The overall exports of oilmeals recorded a growth of 69.6 per cent during the first 10 months of FY23.

 

Data available with Solvent Extractors’ Association (SEA) of India showed that India exported 4.72 lakh tonnes (lt) of oilmeals in January 2023 against 1.76 lt in January 2022. India’s export of oilmeals increased to 32.97 lt during April-January of 2022-23 from 19.44 lt in the corresponding period of 2021-22.

 

BV Mehta, Executive Director of SEA of India, said the export of rapeseed meal has set a new record in the first 10 months of 2022-23, and broke the earlier highest record export of 12.48 lt in 2011-12. India exported 19.10 lt of rapeseed meal during April-January of 2022-23 against 7.29 lt in the corresponding period of 2021-22, recording a growth of 161.73 per cent.

 

He said India is the most competitive supplier of rapeseed meal to South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and other Far East countries at $250 a tonne FOB India, while rapeseed meal (Hamburg ex-mill) is quoted at $428 a tonne.

 

He said the better realisation from rapeseed (mustard) oil and export of rapeseed meal not only supported domestic price of mustard seed, but also encouraged larger sowing area under mustard crop.

 

Soyameal

Export of soyabean meal from India increased to 5.57 lt during April-January of 2022-23 from 3.15 lt in the corresponding period of 2021-22, recording a growth of 77 per cent.

 

Mehta said the fall in the local soyabean price to level of ?4700 a quintal from the highest level of ?7640 a quintal in April 2022 encouraged larger crushing of the crop and better price parity. This made export of soyabean meal attractive.

 

As on February 17, Argentina soyabean meal price (ex-Rotterdam) was quoted at $619 a tonne while Indian soyabean meal (ex-Kandla) was quoted at $585 a tonne. The major consumers of Indian soyabean meal are South East Asian countries. India has a logistic advantage and also can supply in small lots, he said.

 

Being non-GMO, Indian soyabean meal has an advantage. It is being preferred by certain European countries and the US. He said the rupee depreciation is also pushing the overall export.

 

All these factors helped India to revive the export of soyabean meal from the new crop. Giving details of the last three months export figures, he said India shipped 3.95 lt of soyabean meal during November-January of 2022-23 against 1.38 lt in the corresponding period of the previous year, recording a growth of 184.9 per cent.

 

Export destinations

South Korea imported 8.06 lt of oilmeals from India during the first 10 months of 2022-23 (5.09 lt during April-January of 2021-22). This included 5.51 lt of rapeseed meal, 2.24 lt of castorseed meal, and 30,687 tonnes of soyabean meal.

 

India exported 7.52 lt of oilmeals to Vietnam during April-January of 2022-23 (4.78 lt). This included 3.37lt of ricebran extraction, 2.18 lt of rapeseed meal, 1.91 lt of soyabean meal, and 5,009 tonnes of groundnut meal.

 

Thailand imported 6.26 lt of oilmeals from India during the first 10 months of 2022-23 (1.44 lt). This included 5.98 lt of rapeseed meal, 21,261 tonnes of soyabean meal, 4,038 tonnes of groundnut meal, 1,794 tonnes of ricebran extraction, and 798 tonnes of castorseed meal.

 

India exported 3.60 lt of oilmeals to Bangladesh during April-January of 2022-23 (2.90 lt). This included 76,751 tonnes of ricebran extractions, 2.44 lt of rapeseed meal, and 39,214 tonnes of soyabean meal.

 

Taiwan imported 1.15 lt of oilmeals from India during the first 10 months of 2022-23 (78,167 tonnes). This included 69,029 tonnes of castorseed meal, 36,267 tonnes of rapeseed meal, 7,180 tonnes of groundnut meal, and 2,670 tonnes of soyabean meal.

Achieving a USD 47 trillion economy by 2047 is not at all inconceivable for India, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal said on Tuesday. The continuance of good governance that the country has seen over the past 8-9 years, its immense talent pool and the diasporic support the nation commands will aid the growth, the minister said.

 

Goyal, who also holds Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles stressed on the fact that the economy will be largely driven by the service export rather than merchandise export.  He said that during his address at the 17th India Digital Summit (IDS 2023) on Tuesday.

 

'Our services export largely driven by IT has grown by 20 per cent between the year 2021-22 and by March 2023 it will grow by 23% more. The IT industry will overtake merchandise exports. We are about 420 billion merchandise exports last year and 254 billion of service exports. My own estimates say that these will converge by 2030,' added Goyal.

 

As per the data of the Commerce Ministry, the estimated value of services export in April-December 2022 is $235.81 billion as compared to $184.65 billion in the year-ago period. In 2021-22, these exports touched an all-time high of $254 billion. in 2012, India exported $140 billion worth of services. Rising at an annual average growth rate of 6.9 per cent, this number nearly doubled within the first 11 months of 2022.

 

Goyal asserted that the economy will be driven due to the advancement of technology and digital advancement. 'By 2030, India should be at $ 1 trillion of merchandise export. Juxtapose this contextually with the Startup India Mission and Digital India. We have seen broadband spread to the remotest corners of the country and have 800 million smartphone users,' said he.

 

On February 21, 2023, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)  signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Dubai, with Lulu Hypermarket LLC for the promotion of millets in GCC countries. The MoU was signed In the presence of Ambassador of India to UAE.

H. E. Sunjay Sudhir, Dr. M Angamuthu, Chairman, APEDA, Dr. Aman Puri, Consul General of India, Mr. M. A. Yusuff Ali, Chairman & Managing Director of LuLu Group International (LLC), and other officers of the Mission, CGI & APEDA, The MoU was signed by Dr. Tarun Bajaj, Director, APEDA and Mr. Saleem for Lulu group.In order to popularise millet products and value added products around the world during the International Year of Millet 2023, APEDA is collaborating with Lulu Group, an international retail hypermarket chain with locations in several countries, to promote Indian nutritional millets and value added products in West Asia.

 

This will facilitate promotional activities for millet products and allow the country to display millets and their value-added products, ready-to-eat products in international retail chains sourced from FPOs/FPCs/SC/ST/Women entrepreneurs/Start-ups/new entrepreneurs, and so on, providing these products with a platform for publicity in importing countries.

 

APEDA will assist manufacturers in sending various Millet Product samples to Lulu Hypermarkets. Lulu will make it easier to showcase various millet-based products in its hypermarkets, including Ready to Eat and Ready to Serve millet products.

After a lull of three months since the imposition of 20% export duty on rice, India's rice exporters are witnessing a surge in demand from the global markets and international buyers are willing to pay a price of $400 per tonne, as compared to $330 per tonne before the imposition of the export duty.

 

The government had imposed the duty on September 9 last year to contain the domestic price rise. Area under kharif fell 5.62% to 38.39 million hectares in last year's season due to poor rains in some states including UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal. Buyers are absorbing the export duty, despite which Indian rice is cheaper than rice from Thailand which is commanding a price of $500 per tonne in the international market.

 

'The upswing in global demand will help India to achieve 15.5 million tonnes of non-basmati rice exports, which are only 10% lower compared to last year even though earlier it was thought exports would come down to 12-13 mt following the imposition of export duty,' said BV Krishna Rao, president, Rice Exporters Association of India.