São Paulo, Brazil: The Brazilian Association of Vegetable Oil Industries (ABIOVE) and The Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA), associations representing the vegetable oil industries in Brazil and India, respectively, have signed in 2023 a protocol that establishes robust collaboration between the two countries in this industrial segment.
The partnership gained a brand-new chapter with the visit of the Indian delegation to Brazil, organised by SEA and supported by ABIOVE recently. On the agenda were technical visits to industrial crushing and biodiesel plants, logistics terminals and rural properties, as well as presentations and meetings with companies of the sector, seed association (including a visit to the Brazilian Seed Exhibition), representatives of the Brazilian government, a valuable exchange of information.
The vegetable oil industries in Brazil and India, represented, respectively, by ABIOVE and SEA, managed to establish a shared and aligned diagnosis of opportunities and challenges. Brazil has the potential to crush more soybeans to meet the growth of biodiesel and domestic food markets, as well as the increased consumption of vegetable oils for food in India.
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Domestic consumption of vegetable oils in India is likely to grow by 1 million tonnes per year over the next ten years. Although there is growing demand, the challenge of increasing soybean crushing in Brazil lies in the need to expand markets and uses for soybean meal.
There is a range of options to improve soybean crushing in Brazil, however, concrete actions still need to be worked on. The work plan includes:
- Brazilian position: enable the export of soybean meal to India. Today the market is closed, as India does not authorise the production or import of products from genetically modified crops (GMO).
- Indian position: diversification of oilseed production, encouragement of non-genetically modified soybean production, focusing on increasing the production of soybean and other oilseeds to meet the growing demand for edible oils and greater use of soybean protein in human nutrition.
“No option should be discarded and cooperation between the countries’ vegetable oil industry will make solutions viable. What is certain and clear is that the Indian delegation can personally verify the quality of the soybean production chain from seed production, soybean and cotton planting, processing for bran and oil extraction and export logistics, all with high phytosanitary controls and carried out efficiently. Certainly, SEA representatives will bring a good image to their colleagues in India and Southeast Asia,” sources in the Brazilian vegetable oil industries association (ABIOVE) said.
