• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Soyabean prices may rise on US crop dip

Ch. Prashanth Reddy

HYDERABAD, July 15

SOYABEAN prices are expected to firm up during the current season on account of a decline in the US crop size and increase in the prices of other edible oils, particularly palmolein.

In the last three weeks, soyabean prices in the US have increased from 433 cents to 525 cents per bushel. Similarly, the Malaysian palm oil price has increased by about 20 per cent since June 25 due to an overall decline in production.

According Mr S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive of ITC International Business Division, the US soya crop size this season is 2.5 million acres less than the anticipated area. On the other hand, with monsoons being normal, soya sowings in India are on the expe cted lines.

So far, 85 per cent of soya sowings in India is stated to have been completed. In current kharif season, 45 lakh hectares are expected to be covered by the soya crop in Madhya Pradesh and, as per the estimates, 95 per cent of sowing has already been com pleted.

Till July 10, the area covered by the soya crop is estimated to be 37.77 lakh hectares (l.h) in Madhya Pradesh, 7.42 l.h in Maharshtra and 5.51 l.h in Rajasthan. Soyabean is normally sown in India between the second week of June and the third week of Ju ly.

Mr Sivakumar told Business Line that the soya farmers were likely to realise higher price for their produce as the international demand for soya meal was expected to be very strong. Unlike the previous year, the domestic and international prices of soyb ean would be higher than the minimum support price to be announced by the Government.

He said already the first advance transaction for export of soyameal to Korea had been concluded a few days back at a price higher by $10 per tonne compared to last year. Normally, future soyameal trades would be concluded two to three months before the harvest of the crop.

He, however, cautioned that all the expectations could go wrong if the monsoon fails in the next two months or the Government reduced the prevailing import duty on edible oils. If the duty was reduced, the domestic prices of edible oils could remain at t he current level despite the world prices being high.