The Commerce Ministry has decided to stop the export of soybean meals, an essential ingredient in poultry, fisheries and dairy feed, from October 14. This decision has brought relief among the farmers, entrepreneurs and feed manufacturers.
A notification issued by the Ministry of Commerce on October 12, citing two letters from the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and the Department of Livestock, said, “If soybean meal exports continue, it could severely hamper dairy and poultry feed production. As a result, the price of dairy and poultry feed will increase. This will have an adverse effect on the country's livestock sector.”
For this reason, in order to protect the interests of the dairy and poultry sector, it was requested to take necessary steps to stop the export of soybean meals from October 14.
However, the LC or TTs which will be completed by October 13 can be exported by October 20, said the circular.
Ehtesham B Shahjahan, President of Feed Industries Association Bangladesh (FIAB) expressed relief over the decision to stop exports and said, “We would like to thank the Ministry of Commerce for taking such an important decision, although belatedly.”
FIAB general secretary MdAhsanuzzaman said “The decision to export soybean meals had caused unimaginable damage to the domestic poultry, fisheries and dairy sectors. I hope that the local price of soybean meals will definitely go down with the stop of exports and decline in soybean meal crisis in India.”
However, poultry and dairy farmersare saying that the decision to stop soybean meal export is not enough; it is important to restore soybean meal prices. Otherwise, the price of feed will not go down and as a result, it will not be possible to control the production cost of eggs and chickens.
Poultry, fisheries and dairy farmers have appealed to put pressure on oil producers to reduce the price of soybean meals.