India soybean area could jump 15% to beat higher costing palm oil

Indian farmers are likely to expand soybean planting areas by nearly 15 percent after the government raised edible oil import tax to the highest level in more than a decade, lifting domestic oilseed prices to nearly two-year highs. Higher production of the main summer-sown oilseed could help India, the world’s biggest vegetable oil importer, trim costly imports from Brazil, Argentina, Indonesia and Malaysia. It could also mean a boost in exports of soymeal, a key animal feed, to Asian buyers such as Japan, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Soybean has been giving farmers good returns. Indian soymeal once accounted for nearly a quarter of all Southeast Asian imports, but the country’s share has been falling due to rising domestic soybean consumption amid stagnant production.