In December 2019, soybean meal exports stood at 90,000 tons, as per data released by SOPA.
France reportedly purchased 43,257 tons and Iran took in 41,500 tons last month, making those two countries among the biggest importers of Indian soybean meal in December, the data showed.
SOPA said the recent global rally in soybean prices has made Indian soybean meal more competitive.
China looking at biotech crop approvals
Meanwhile, China's ministry of agriculture and rural affairs (MARA) said yesterday [January 11] that it was set to approve the safety of a new genetically modified (GMO) corn variety and a GMO soybean.
Both products have both produced by local company, Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Co Ltd, reported Reuters.
China has maintained tight restrictions on the use of GM crops in domestic planting in the past, but last year it approved three domestically produced GMO crops as safe, the first to gain a safety certificate in a decade.
The Chinese government also indicated, recently, that it wants to support biotech breeding to boost food security, leading the industry to expect further progress towards commercialization in the coming year, noted the Reuters report.
The ministry has opened a public consultation on the safety approval of the GMO crops, the comment period runs until February 1.
MARA also announced yesterday that it had approved two new GMO corn varieties for import into China. One of those varieties given the green light is MON87411, which is sold by Bayer's Crop Science unit and the other, MZIR098, was developed by Syngenta.