China has banned imports of oil meal from India saying it has found traces of a hazardous chemical in some rapeseed meal shipments, the Solvent Extractors Association of India said.
Chinese authorities have now excluded India from the list of importing countries, and this will likely hurt India's oil meal exports badly, the trade body said in a statement.
China is the fourth-largest oil meal importer from India and it buys large quantities of rapeseed meal and soy meal from the South Asian country. Japan, Vietnam and South Korea are the other major oil meal importers from India.
Packaging material to examine
China's quality watchdog had warned Indian exporters in June last year that it had found the chemical, malachite green, in rapeseed meal shipments.
Subsequently, Indian authorities identified green dye used in the packing material as the source of the contamination.
In the last three months, oil meal exports to China have slowed due to the uncertainty surrounding the case.
The trade body has urged oil meal exporters to stop the use of malachite green in packing materials and has invited a Chinese government delegation in February-March to inspect oil meal crushing facilities here.
