Market Information
Asia Pacific

China's Vegetable Oil Industry

Prepared by the Canadian Embassy, Beijing
in consultation with BeSeen Consulting Ltd

March, 2002

1. Overview

Vegetable oil consumption in China has doubled in the last 10 years to approximately 12 million tons and is expected to continue to increase at the rate of 500-600,000 tons per year. In recent years domestic oil production has been supplemented by imports of nearly 2 million tons of mainly palm oil but also some soybean and canola oil.

The WTO agreement represents an excellent opportunity for Canada to develop long term business for canola oil in China. Potential constraints to this business development include the nature of the TRQ administration process once it is made public and the potential impact of the newly announced implementing regulations for GMO products.

2. Impact of WTO agreement

China's December 2001 accession to the WTO will have a significant impact on the oilseed and vegetable oil industry in China. The Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ's) agreed in the WTO are as follows:

Note: TRQ's will be eliminated January 1, 2006

From the above table it can be seen that some 5.8 million tons of vegetable oils can be imported in 2002 under the TRQ tariff of 9 percent. This will increase to about 8 million tons by 2005 and the quotas will be completely eliminated on January 1, 2006 leaving only the 9% tariff rate.

In addition to the TRQ's on canola oil, the WTO agreement sets trading limits for State Trading Enterprises (STE's) as a means to encourage a more open and competitive trading environment. For canola oil, STE's will be limited to 34% of the TRQ in 2002 and decreasing to 10% in 2005.

The TRQ administrative procedures were scheduled to be in place in late 2001 but have not yet been published.

3. Vegetable oil consumption

The rapid economic growth in the past 20 years has resulted in exceptionally strong increases in edible oil consumption in China. In 2000, total edible oil consumption was 12.4 million tons with rapeseed oil accounting for 34%, soybean oil 25%, peanut oil 16%, palm oil 12%, and cottonseed oil 7%.

The table below shows oil consumption for the five major vegetable oils during the past 5 years. During this period vegetable oil consumption increased by approximately 30% overall and rapeseed oil consumption increased by 41%. Vegetable oil consumption in China has doubled during the past 10 years.

note: does not include some minor vegetable oils

It is estimated that the direct edible oil consumption for household and restaurant consumption in China is about 10 million tons per year with the remainder being used in the food processing industry.

4. China's imports of vegetable oil and oilseeds

During the past 5 years, China's imports of vegetable oil and oilseeds have changed dramatically. Palm oil imports traditionally account for a large share due to market demand and competitive prices, and in recent years have been just over 1 million tons annually. Imports of rapeseed oil and soybean oil decreased significantly in recent years according to Chinese statistics.

The import of rapeseed began only in 1997 but increased rapidly to nearly 3 million tons by 2000. The increasing importation of rapeseed is mainly due to the increased oil crushing capacity in China and the growing demand for quality rapeseed oil for human consumption.

The increasing oil crushing and processing capacity attracted rapid expansion of soybean imports which have increased to over 10,000 tons, about two-thirds of the volume of domestic soybean production. In 2000, the Chinese government implemented the value-added tax on imported soybean meal, which strongly supported soybean imports and discouraged imports of soybean meal. The fast developing livestock industry in China also demands an increasing supply of high protein feed, and soybean meal is a major source of feed protein.

Some industry specialists suggest that there is a good opportunity for the Canadian canola meal. The traditional rapeseed meal with high levels of erucic acid and glucosinolates can only be added to animal feeds at a low percentage while canola meal, with low levels of glucosinolates and erucic acid, can be added to the animal feed at a much higher percentage.

In terms of shipping, rapeseed and soybeans are shipped to China on large vessels with a volume of 30,000 - 50,000 tons. Most Chinese ports can load and unload the ships directly and the product can be transferred to the crushers via rail or truck, or can be stored at port warehouses.

5. Oil Seed Production

In recent years there has been considerable restructuring of crop production in China primarily as a result of regional oversupply in grains and/or cotton. In order to maintain income levels for the farming households, producing more oilseed crops was a logical choice. At the same time, rapidly increasing demand for vegetable oils and corresponding increases in crushing and processing capacity for oilseeds in the past 4 - 5 years, has provided incentive for increasing production of oilseed crops.

* Cottonseeds are used for crushing edible oil traditionally in the cotton production areas. This table lists cottonseeds as one source for edible oil.

The provinces in southern China reduced the acreage for wheat and early rice and increased the production of rapeseed, farmers in the Yellow River and Huai River areas reduced acreage of cotton and corn and increased production of peanuts, while the farmers in the northwestern region reduced the acreage of corn and produced more sunflower

6. Regional oilseed production

Rapeseed production is primarily concentrated in the Yangtzi valley region. Hubei province is the largest rapeseed producer in China followed by Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. These three provinces combined account for more than 40% of China's total rapeseed production.

China started producing double-low rapeseed in large volumes from the mid 1990s. The quality double-low rapeseed production is concentrated in Hubei province and rapeseed produced in other provinces is mainly from traditional varieties or other varieties that cannot meet the quality specifications for double-low or single-low.

It is reported that in some areas crushers pay a small premium for double-low rapeseed as some feed mills understand the quality difference between canola meal and locally produced rapeseed meal. However, the general public has very little knowledge of the difference between canola oil and locally produced rapeseed oil.

¹ Double-low rapeseed is a Chinese name for the newly developed rapeseed varieties that meet the quality specifications:
< 30 moles of aliphatic glucosinolates per gram of air-dry oil-extracted meal;
< 1 percent erucic acid in the oil.
There are also some single-low rapeseed varieties that have been developed. They have a low content of either glucosinolates or erucic acid

Peanut production is concentrated in the Yellow River area. Shandong is the largest peanut producer followed by Henan province, the two provinces together accounting for more than 45% of total peanut production in China.

Soybean production is concentrated in northeastern China. Heilongjiang province is by far the largest soybean producer and alone comprises more than 30% of total soybean production in China.

7. Oilseed crushing and processing industry

The oilseed crushing and processing industry in China can be divided into three major regional groupings. The first is located in northern China along the Bohai Bay. This group mainly processes domestically produced soybeans and some peanuts. The second group is located in the Yangtzi valley and processes primarily rapeseed. The third group is located in South China and processes mainly imported soybeans.

The modern oilseed crushing and processing industry in China started in the early 1990s. Prior to this there were few modern crushing and processing facilities in China and the traditional small crushers dominated China's oilseed crushing industry. Each county had some smaller crushers that could process a few tons of seed per day and some larger ones that could process up to 30-50 tons of seed per day. With the advent of the large scale crushers, most of these smaller crushers are either closed or running at partial capacity as they are unable to compete.

During the first half of 1990s, the oilseed crushing and processing business was very profitable, which attracted many new large crushing and processing facilities in the last 5-6 years. However, the rapidly expanding oilseed crushing and processing capacity in southern China in the past 5 years has resulted in excess capacity for the industry, growing imports of soybeans and rapeseed for crushing, and lower prices for edible oils in the past two years.

8. Outlook

It is anticipated that vegetable oil consumption in China will continue to increase at a healthy rate in line with the growth in incomes, perhaps in the order of 500-600,000 tons per year. Market demand should continue to be strong.

Domestic rapeseed production will likely continue to increase in the next few years. Quality double-low rapeseed production will be strongly promoted by the government and industry and if crushers pay a premium for the double-low rapeseed farmers will produce more.

Soybean production in China will in large part be determined by the international market prices of soybeans as import volumes are so large and market dominating. The lower international market price in recent years and relatively good quality of the imported soybeans has placed a lot pressure on the domestic soybean producers. If farmers cannot make money from producing soybeans they will use their land for alternative crops.

Another factor at play which may affect vegetable oil imports is the newly developed large oilseed crushing and processing capacity in China. The crushing industry with its overcapacity situation will be looking to import the raw material to crush to keep their plants running and as such may be less inclined to import crude oil.

9. Relevant government, trade associations

China State Grain Bureau

China State Grain Bureau is a government institution in charge of the macro control of grain and oil circulation, industry guidance, administration of state grain in storage under the leadership of the State Development Planning Committee.

The main responsibilities:

• To make mid-term and long-term plans on balancing grain and oil production and consumption, grain and oil distribution and storage, grain and oil import and export.
• To draft the grain and oil related laws, regulations, policies and inspect the implementation of these laws, regulations and policies; to approve large grain and oil related projects.
• To work together with the State Quality and Technology Inspection Bureau to make and implement industry standards.
• To provide guidelines for the grain and oil industry related education and training, to promote the application of new technologies.

Director General: Mr. Nie Zhenbang
Deputy Director General: Mr. Zhu Changguo
Email address: webmaster@chinagrain.com
Tel: 010-88384818

China National Vegetable Oil Association

The China National Vegetable Oil Association has about 300 members that covers all the major oil crushers/refiners, traders, importers and exporters and large warehouses in China. The association was spun off from the Grain Bureau some two years ago and does the coordination works for the industry and between the industry and government under the supervision of the China State Grain Bureau. It's main source of revenue is organizing seminars and promotional activities.

Vice Secretary General: Mr. Liu Wei
45 Fuxingmennei Street
Beijing, China
Tel: (86-10) 66052139
Fax: (86-10) 66038284

10. Licensed vegetable oil traders

Six state trading companies are currently licensed to import edible oil. However, under the WTO agreement other enterprises can now apply for trading rights and within 3 years all enterprises in China, foreign or domestic, will have the right to import and export. The six licenced companies are listed below but note that in fact only the first three companies are currently active in the vegetable oil trade.

China National Cereals, Oil & Foodstuff Import and Export Co. (COFCO)
Contact: Mr. Yu Xupo, Vice President of COFCO
Building A, Zhong Liang Square
Number 8, Jianguomennei Street
Beijing China
Tel: 86 10 6526 8888-2902

China National Native Products and Animal Byproducts Import & Export Co.
Contact: Mr. Zeng Hongming, Deputy General Manager
Number 208,
An Ding Men Wai Street
Beijing China
Tel: 86 10 6424-8899

China Cereals, Oil & Foodstuff Group
Contact: Mr. Gao Xiushan, Deputy General Manager
No 45, Fuxinmen Nei Dajie
Beijing, China
Tel: 86 10 6609-4412

China Resources Co.
Contact: Mr. Chen Shulin
F 27, Hua Run Building
Number 8, Jianguomen Bei Dajie
Beijing, China
Tel: 86 10 8519-2600 852-2879 7888

China Nam Kwong National Import & Export Co.
Contact: Mr Xi
Number 14, Dengshikou Dajie
Beijing, China
Tel: 86 10 6513-2227

China Liangfeng Cereals Import & Export Co.
Contact: Mr. Wang Baolin
F 13 East, Si Chuan Building
Number 1, Fuchenmenn Wai Dajie
Beijing, China
Tel: 86 10 6836-4861

11. Stand-alone oil refiners

A number of stand-alone vegetable oil crushers have been identified as listed below which may offer potential opportunities for Canadian exporters.

BEIJING EISEN-LUBAO OIL CO.LTD  was setup in 1994 with a total investment of US$18million. They have an advanced processing system which processes 300 tons of oil per day, about 90,000 ton per year. The main products are cooking oil and salad oil with the brand "Lubao"in both retail and bulk packaging. The quality is renowned in Beijing and they have won many awards by the Beijing government.

No. 58 Huang Ting Zi
Da Hong Men, Fengtai District
Beijing, China 100076
Contact: Mr. Yan, General Manager
Tel: 86 10 6798-2865 6798-5654
Fax: 86 10 6798-3525

BEIJING TONGYI EDIBLE OIL CO, LTD.  The vegetable oil refinery Beijing Tongyi Edible Oil Co. Ltd. was established in 1992 with a total investment of US$6 million as a joint-venture of Beijing Edible Oil Company and Taiwan Chi Huang Industries Co.Ltd. It has an annual refining oil capacity of 45,000 metric tons and a daily capacity of 150 metric tons. It also has storage capacity of more than 10 thousand metric tons. The main products of the company are Huoniao brand salad oil, Huoniao Sesame cooking oil, Huoniao peanut oil and Gubi brand sesame oil.

No.300 NanLi Huaifang Nanyauan Feng
Tai District
Beijing, China 100076
Contact: Mr Cui General Manager of Sales
Tel: 86 10 6791-1127
Fax: 86 10 6791-1367
Email: huoniao@public.bta.net.cn

SHANGHAI KERRY OILS AND GRAINS INDUSTRIAL CO.LTD  This company is a joint venture enterprise which processes and packages vegetable oils including cooking oil and salad oil which are marketed under five brands : "Jin Longyu", "Yuan Bao", "Carp", " Jia Long", "Wan Dailan". The total investment is US$25million and annual output can reach 200,000 tons.

No 168 Dong Tang Lu
Pu Dong Xin District
Shanghai, China 201208
Contact: Pan Kunli, General Manager
Tel: 86 21 6846-2277
Fax: 86 21 6846-7008

BEI HAI OIL AND GRAIN INDUSTRIAL (TIANJIN) LTD  This company is a large joint venture enterprise with total investment is US$43 million.  The main business scope is producing consumer packages of cooking oil. The yearly output can reach 500,000 metric tons.

No.2. Hubei Lu, Tang Gu District
Tianjin, China
Contact: Zhang Zhentao, General Manager
Tel: 86 022 25350834
Fax: 86 022 2535-0314

SHANGHAI OILS COMPANY This company is a large joint venture enterprise for processing refined cooking oil and salad oil with annual output capacity of refined oil of 120,000 tons. 

No.479, Zhong Shan Nan Lu
Shanghai City, China
Contact: Mr Guo,General Manager
Tel: 86 021 6332-1662 6376-1662
Fax: 86 021 6378-1808

12. Some major oilseed crushers and processors

Dalian Nisshin Oil Mills, Ltd.

Established in September 1988, and located on Huanghai West Road of Dalian Economic and Technology Development Zone. It has a total investment of US $40 million and registered capital of US$22.5 million, 97.34% of which is from Japan and 2.66% from China. The facility has a floor area of 28,000 square meters. The main equipment is imported from Japan, Europe and the USA The company can process 220,000M/T soybeans per year.

Zhejiang Xinshi Oils Stock Company, Ltd.

Zhejiang Xinshi Oils Stock Company, Ltd. was born of Deqing Xinshi Oils Factory, which was founded in 1949. It has now become a key enterprise in product processing as well as the largest rapeseed crusher in China and enjoys a high reputation in domestic and international business.

The company had assets of RMB 280 million and 600 employees at the end of 2000. The company is capable of processing 800,000 tons of rapeseed and soybeans (600,000 tons of which was imported from the USA, Australia, Europe and South American countries), 120,000 tons of wheat, and can produce 240,000 tons of rapeseed oil or salad rapeseed oil, 80,000 tons of rapeseed flour and 330,000 tons of rapeseed meal each year.

The total annual sales are about RMB 1020 million ($C200 million). The main product, "Ruyi" brand second class rapeseed oil has had the title of Quality Products granted by Huzhou City, Zhejiang Province and the Grain Ministry of P. R. China for many years. The rapeseed meal is sold to Japan, Korea and Thailand. Currently, the company crushes 2800 tons of rapeseed daily and produces about 400 tons of refined rapeseed oil each day.

Address: No. 1 Tayuan Road, Xinshi Town, Deqing County, Zhejiang Province
Tel: 0572-8444605
Fax: 0572-8444731
Contact person: Zha Jialiang
General Manager: Zeng Xin

Nantong Bao Gang Oils and Fats Development Co. Ltd.

Nantong Bao Gang Oils and Fats Development Co. Ltd. is one of the largest oils and fats production and processing enterprises in China.

It imports 600,000 tons of rapeseed annually from Canada, France, Germany and Australia. It has advanced equipment introduced from Germany with the daily capacity to process 600 tons of rapeseed oil, and1200 tons of rapeseed. Annual production of refined oil is 200 thousand tons and the annual export volume of rapeseed meal is 330 thousand tons.

It has invested 3.5 billion RMB in soybean processing and refined oil production. By the year 2002, it will become the largest refined oils and fats enterprise in Asia. By 2005, the company forecasts sales of 45 billion RMB (C$9 billion).

Contact person: Huang Dahai, Manager of General Office
Tel: 0513-5102122

Zhangjiagang Eastern Ocean Grain and Oil Industry Co. Ltd.

Zhangjiagang Eastern Ocean Grain and Oil Industry Co. Ltd. has a total investment of US$1.2 billion. At present, it is Asia's largest grain and oil processing enterprise with advanced technology and large scale operations. It has oil storage tanks with a capacity of 53,000 tons and has also constructed a dock with a loading capacity of 65,000 tons and annual loading capacity of 3 million tons.

Contact person: Zhang Gougui - Deputy Manager
Bonded District
Import and Export Product Processing District
Zhangjiagong, Jiangsu Province
Tel: (86-0520) 8381018
Fax: (86-0520) 8380755

List of Chinese oilseed crushers/processors

1	Dalian Huanong	Domestics	Dalian	Liao ning	North east	soybean  crush	2800	1000
2	Dalian oil/ fat General	State- owned	Dalian	Liao ning	North east	soybean  crush	2000	300
3	Dalian  Huatai Oil	domestic	Dalian	Liao ning	North east	soybean  crush	1200	300
4	Jilin Deda	JV( Thai)	Dehui County	Jilin	North east	soybean  crush	2000	350
5	Jinhai Oil	COFCO/ Wilmar /ADM	Qing huan gdao	Hebei	North	soybean  crush	3000	500
6	Tianjing Zhengda (CP)	JV( Thai)	Tian jing	Tian jing	North	soybean  crush	1200	200
7	Zhoukou oil (COFCO/ Wilmar/ ADM	JV (Wilmar)	Zhou cou	Henan	North	soybean  crush	1500	300
8	Kunhua Oil/Fat	Domestic	Qihe	Shan dong	North	soybean  crush	1100	200
9	Shandong Cereal &  Oil industry	Domestic	Jinan	Shan dong	North	soybean  crush	1200	350
10	CP Lianyun gang	JV (Thai)	Lian yun gang	Jiangsu	Yangtze River	soybean/ rapeseed	2000	300
11	Shining Gold/Jin  uang	Singapore	Ningbo	Zhe jiang	Yangtze River	soybean/ rapeseed crush	1000	600
12	East-Ocean	JV(Kuok)	Zhan gjia gang	Jiangsu	Yangtze River	soybean crush/ rader	6000	600
13	Liangchen Industry & Trading  Co.	Domestic	Liang chen	Jiangsu	Yangtze River	sybean/ rapeseed	1200	100
14	Keery  Oil/Fat	JV(Kuok)	Cheng du	Si chuan	Yangtze River	soybean/ rapeseed	1200	300
15	Changxing Oil/Fat	Domestic	Chan gxi	Zhe jiang	Yangtze River	soybean/ rapeseed crush	1000	200
16	Zhanjiang Huanong	Domestic	Zhan jiang	Guang dong	South	soybean crush	1200	250
17	Fengyuan Industry	JV (Dongling /Japan)	Yang jiang	Guang dong	South	soybean crush	1200	250
18	Dongguan Huanong	domestics	Dong guan	Guang dong	South	soybean crush	1500	300
19	Nantian Oil/Fat	JV (Kuok)	Shen zhen	Guang dong	South	soybean crush	1500	Nil
20	Guanxi Fangchen	JV (Kuok)	Fan chen	Guanxi	South	soybean crush	2400	600
21	Cargill -PEC- Crushing plant	USA	Xin sha	Guang dong	South	soybean crush	3000	N/A
22	Shantou Zhong  xin oil	JV (Hong Kuang)	Shan tou	Guang dong	South	soybean crush	2000	600

1	Dalian Huanong	Domestics	opera- ting	100%	30%	70%	500	86-411- 726134
2	Dalian oil/ fat General	State- owned	opera- ting	100%	30%	70%	800	86-411- 270309
3	Dalian  Huatai Oil	domestic	opera- ting	100%	30%	70%	400	86-411- 630263
4	Jilin Deda	JV( Thai)	opera- ting	100%	40%	60%	1200	86-431- 720300
5	Jinhai Oil	COFCO/ Wilmar /ADM	opera- ting	50%	50%	50%	1000	86-65- 3235900
6	Tianjing Zhengda (CP)	JV( Thai)	opera- ting	100%	70%	30%	400	86-22- 253291
7	Zhoukou oil (COFCO/ Wilmar/ ADM	JV (Wilmar)	buil- ding	100%	50%	50%	700	86-65- 3235900
8	Kunhua Oil/Fat	Domestic	opera- ting	100%	50%	50%	500	86-531- 641574
9	Shandong Cereal &  Oil industry	Domestic	opera- ting	100%	50%	50%	500	86-531- 699060
10	CP Lianyun gang	JV (Thai)	opera- ting	80%	50%	50%	1000	86-66- 631054
11	Shining Gold/Jin  uang	Singapore	half opera- ting	80%	50%	50%	1000	86-21- 63603895
12	East-Ocean	JV(Kuok)	expan- ding	75%	20%	80%	200	86-65- 3235900
13	Liangchen Industry & Trading  Co.	Domestic	opera- ting	60%	40%	60%	---
14	Keery  Oil/Fat	JV(Kuok)	opera- ting	100%	40%	50%	500	86-65- 738862
15	Changxing Oil/Fat	Domestic	buil- ding	10%	30%	70%	---	86-572- 6022962
16	Zhanjiang Huanong	Domestic	opera- ting	100%	10%	90%	1000	86-411- 726134
17	Fengyuan Industry	JV (Dongling /Japan)	opera- ting	100%	10%	90%	1000	86-20- 829750
18	Dongguan Huanong	domestics	buil- ding	100%	10%	90%	1500	86-411- 726134
19	Nantian Oil/Fat	JV (Kuok)	opera- ting	100%	10%	90%	1200	86-65- 738862
20	Guanxi Fangchen	JV (Kuok)	buil- ding	100%	10%	90%	2000	86-65- 323590
21	Cargill -PEC- Crushing plant	USA	plan- ning	100%	0	100%		86-21- 635488
22	Shantou Zhong  xin oil	JV (Hong Kuang)	buil- ding	100%	0	100%	1000	86-754- 888504