Suffered by lower demand form overseas market, India`s oilmeals exports plunged by 33% to 0.197 million tons in June 2009 against 0.295 million tons in the same month last year, reports Business Line.

The shipments during April-June quarter dipped by 57% at 0.614 million tons compared to 1.433 million tons in the year-ago period, Solvent Extractors Association (SEA), the leading edible oils industry body.

Out of the total shipments made during the first quarter, exports of soyabean meal stood at 0.287 million tons followed by rapeseed meal at 0.248 million tons. SEA attributed the fall in exports to weak export demand and lower crushing. China, Vietnam, South Korea and Japan are the major importers of Indian oilmeals.

During April-June quarter, China bought 93,289 tons of oilmeals against 54,429 tons in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal. Shipments to Vietnam dropped by 51.5% at little over 0.2 million tons compared to 0.413 million tons in the re view period. Exports to South Korea declined to 70,644 tons from 0.215 million tons, while shipments to Japan fell to 83,436 tons from 0.19 million tons.