NEW DELHI: FMCG major Ruchi Soya Industries said it was expecting improved capacity utilisation at its plants, driven by the sops announced during the mid-term review of the foreign trade policy. According to the firm, the increase in export incentives for agriculture and related products along with the two per cent additional incentive under the Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) for soyameal will help its oilseed extraction business witness an increase in capacity utilisation, as well as increased output of value added products.
“Crushing operations at key plants at Manglia near Indore (Madhya Pradesh); Nagpur (Maharashtra), Kota (Rajasthan) and Washim (Maharashtra) have been on the uptrend by 30 per cent to 40 per cent compared to the first half of the current year. Coming on the back of our strengthening supplies to Patanjali, the increase in export incentive and increase in import duties will further improve the business environment,” said Satendra Agarwal, COO, Ruchi Soya Industries Ltd.
He added that the availability of soyabean had been boosted since farmers were now selling the commodity after the government agreed to pay them the difference between the market price and MSP (minimum support price). “The soyabean prices today are more than the MSP, further increasing the availability. We expect increased crushing with enhanced export viability to further augment our capacity utilisation to the extent of 20 per cent with a consequent increase in overall margins”.
With 3.72 million tonne capacities across 10 locations, Ruchi Soya has the largest oil seed extraction (crushing) capacity in India. However, owing to bad crop yields and availability over the last two years, only 15 per cent of the crushing capacity was being utilised. This is expected to more than double in the current year to 30-35 per cent.