China Emerges as the Largest Buyer of Indian Oil Meal

17-Mar-2026 07:58 PM

Mumbai: Surpassing countries such as South Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam, China has emerged as the largest importer of Indian oil meal this year. The primary commodity imported from India to China was mustard cake (rapeseed extraction).

Largely thanks to China, India's exports of rapeseed extraction reached a significantly satisfactory level; however, the total volume still fell slightly short of the figures recorded in the previous year.

Data compiled by the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA) reveals that during the 11-month period from April 2024 to February 2025, India exported only 38,240 tonnes of oil meal to China.

This figure subsequently surged manifold during the 11 months spanning April 2025 to February 2026, reaching a volume of 779,016 tonnes.

Conversely, during this same period, exports of Indian De-oiled Cake (DOC) witnessed a decline across various destinations: exports to South Korea fell from 614,545 tonnes to 336,222 tonnes; to Bangladesh, they dropped from 689,380 tonnes to 346,118 tonnes; to Thailand, from 413,172 tonnes to 240,223 tonnes; to Vietnam, from 221,245 tonnes to 212,975 tonnes; to Germany,

from 181,709 tonnes to 178,741 tonnes; and to France, from 222,507 tonnes to 139,807 tonnes. Consequently, over the entire 11-month period, the total exports of Indian oil meal contracted by 11 percent—falling from 3,933,349 tonnes to 3,493,823 tonnes.