Animal feed manufacturers in Bangladesh have criticised the commerce ministry for allowing soybean meal export to India when both the countries face the same crisis over the raw material of the feed industry. They have demanded an immediate halt to the export of this item considering the crisis faced in the country. The commerce ministry has decided to stand by the feed producers and farmers of other countries, leaving the local feed manufacturers, farmers and consumers in a state of chaos. Insiders said the decision to export soybean meal in the unstable situation is because the global supply chain has put feed producers in Bangladesh into trouble.
Soybean meal comes as a by-product of soybean oil-producing companies in Bangladesh. The soybean meal covers 75-80% of the raw material demand of the animal feed industry. The rest is imported from different countries, especially India. India has never imported soybean meal from Bangladesh. But the global raw material crisis has also affected India. Exploiting the export opportunity, local soybean meal producers are creating an artificial crisis in the market by raising the price of the raw material. Since the decision to export was taken, the price soybean meal has gone up by Tk 10-12 per kg in 10-15 days. The survival of medium and small animal feed industries has become a big challenge as a result. As the price of raw materials is going up, the price of feed is not going to increase at the same rate. Due to higher prices of feed, the prices of fish, chicken and eggs have started shooting up too, which is putting pressure on ordinary consumers.
Animal feed producers reminded the Ministry of Commerce that Indian authorities had stopped onion exports to Bangladesh when there was an onion crisis in Bangladesh. Again, it did not provide Covid-19 vaccines even after receiving payment in advance because it had an urgent demand for the same because of high Covid infection and death rates. Now the crisis in India is being given bigger importance without considering the crisis of the local industry. But once India’s soybean harvesting season begins in October, it will no longer import the raw material from Bangladesh, they pointed out. They urged the administration to uphold the interests of the local animal feed industry.
