The organization representing soybean food processing industries – Soy Food Promotion and Welfare Association have requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the processing industry to import 50,000 tons of food specialty soya beans from the US duty-free.
K Sarat Chandra Kumar, President, Soy Food Promotion and Welfare Association said that beans could be allowed into the country at “zero” duty under tariff-rate quota since food specialty soybeans are not grown in the country.
Soybean is not a staple food in India, hereafter, the requisite to process and serve the best optimal quality to customers is important.
Though soya food companies have better quality, “due to a lack of affordable, high-quality raw ingredients, we feel challenged for new growth opportunities.
The inferior raw Soyabean quality is the leading cause of discontented consumers wanting a better taste, texture and flavor profiles.
Indian soybeans are oil- and meal-centric, appropriate for animal utilization. There are no food specialty soybeans grown in the country; thus the supply of the same does not exist. While all Indian beans are non-GM, they are also treated as commodity beans regardless of the end-use, be it in the food or feed industry.
When soybeans are needed for food applications, Indian producers grade and select the best beans from the general lots and sell them at a premium price.
But they do not qualify to satisfy the specialty food characteristics and do not match up with the quality standards and expectations for producing retail-end products. As a result, many food processors are now forced to shut down, the soy food promotion body chief said.
According to Sumit Agarwal, Vice President of the Association, due to the lack of suitable food-grade specialty soybeans, food processors are inhibited. “This is limiting the business opportunities, job creation, and revenue generation,” he said.
The Soy Food Promotion and Welfare Association said that these soybeans that need to be imported are non-genetically modified food-grade beans grown in the US that has lower oil content, higher inherent sucrose, low oligosaccharide (raffinose and stachyose) and stable protein structures making them highly suitable for food manufacturing.
The Soy Food Promotion and Welfare Association said it represents over 2,000 small, medium and large-scale units across the country that provide low-cost nutrition under the “Nutrition Mission” of India.