How much was sweet potato starch per jin in 2018? Price market analysis

Sweet potato starch is one of the main products of sweet potato processing. It contains a variety of nutrients needed by the human body and can be divided into two types: starch processed from fresh sweet potatoes and starch processed from dried sweet potatoes. However, because the quality of starch from fresh sweet potatoes is better than that from dried sweet potatoes, starch is mostly processed from fresh potatoes. Because cutting sweet potatoes is rather troublesome, few people now use dried sweet potatoes to process starch. In 2018, about how much was sweet potato starch per jin?

 

 

The price of sweet potato starch changes according to market conditions. At present, it is roughly 5-15 yuan per jin, and appropriate discounts are possible for large quantities. There are slight differences among regions. The following price information is for reference only:

 

Saiwengfu sweet potato starch 250g     ￥4.70 

 

Saiwengfu sweet potato starch 400g/bag     ￥7.50 

 

Sichuan specialty Youjia sweet potato starch 260g    ￥7.90 

 

Linghua sweet potato starch 330g/bag    ￥6.50 

 

Gusong Qing sweet potato starch 350g    ￥6.50 

 

Gusong sweet potato starch, sweet potato flour, kitchen essential, seasoning, 500g bag    ￥5.90

 

Linshu Yunzi Agricultural and Sideline Products Business Department 0539-6463197:

 

1. At the beginning of this year, raw material prices were slightly lower than last year. The per-ton price delivered to processing plants was generally 850---900 per ton for No. 5 (high starch content), and 800 yuan per ton for Xushu No. 18, which is within the normal range.

 

2. Due to environmental protection constraints and government pressure, some processing households shut down later, competition lost balance, and the price of raw material sweet potatoes fell below 600 all the way, showing a downward trend. Some prices were 560 per ton, and the market outlook is sluggish.

 

3. Imported cassava starch at Qingdao Port, due to traffic controls and compressed load limits, led to purchases exceeding port orders, causing cassava starch to soar all the way, from 2,480 per ton to the current 2,650, and reaching as high as 2,850. The market outlook is very strong and will remain stable by the end of the year.

 

Summary: Our department estimates that this year new flour first grade will be around 7,200, sun-dried granular flour pure sweet potato starch around 5,800, and other lower-quality starch around 5,400. Cassava starch will not exceed 3,000 yuan.

 

Related reading

 

1. Uses of sweet potato starch

 

1. Use in sweet potato food processing: fruit sweet potato, purple sweet potato, roasted sweet potato, sweet potato tips, sweet potato leaf stems, vermicelli, starch noodles, starch sheets, dried sweet potato, sweet potato strips, sweet potato cakes, sweet potato preserves, purple sweet potato.

 

2. Use of sweet potato starch in biodiesel processing: after the World Federation prohibited the use of rice, wheat, and corn, the main food crops, as biodiesel raw materials in 2007, all biodiesel research and development shifted entirely to sweet potato starch. This sector has huge market potential.

 

3. Use of sweet potato starch in industrial processing: food packaging paper (bags), clothing fabrics, natural lead-free fabrics, etc.

 

4. Use of sweet potato starch in pharmaceutical processing: 85% of Western medicine tablets are starch, monosodium glutamate, amino acids for human use, amino acids for veterinary use, modified starch (extraction of carotene, blood sugar substitute syrup), food coloring, etc.

 

5. Use in green food, organic food processing and their raw materials.

 

2. Differences between sweet potato starch, corn starch, and potato starch

 

1. Compared with other starches, sweet potato starch is characterized by strong water absorption, but relatively poor viscosity, no luster, and a dark red color with black. Because its viscosity is difficult to control, sweet potato starch is less often used when thickening dishes.

 

Sweet potato starch is used more in making Chinese-style dim sum, and can also be used to make vermicelli, starch noodles, and starch sheets.

 

2. Corn starch is mainly used for seasoning before cooking dishes prepared by techniques such as smooth stir-frying, smooth braising, wine-lees braising, vinegar braising, quick-boiling, and quick-frying. It is suitable for dishes made from tender-textured ingredients or tender cuts of the three poultry, chicken, duck, and goose, and the three livestock, pig, cattle, and sheep, as well as fish, shrimp, crab, and other sea and river fresh ingredients.

 

Corn starch can remove off-flavors and add aroma to ingredients, maintain the true taste of food, and make the mouthfeel more tender, fresh, and crisp.

 

3. Potato starch is mainly used for marinating meat, making sauces, and thickening dishes.

 

After meat is coated with potato starch, its water retention effect can be increased, and the meat does not taste dry when eaten. Meat products with added potato starch have a uniform and delicate texture, tight structure, good elasticity, smooth cut surface, and are fresh and tender and palatable, with stronger water retention during long-term storage and low-temperature refrigeration.

 

Potato starch has sufficient viscosity, a white color, and good transparency. For example, in the dish oil-blasted tripe, when eaten hot, the taste is fragrant, crisp, tender, and viscous. The dish stays on the tongue for a longer time, has a large contact area with the tongue, and has a rich mouthfeel.

 

Potato starch is modified starch. As a good thickener, modified starch is widely used in sauce-type foods. Potato starch has a low gelatinization temperature, which can reduce nutrient and flavor loss caused by high temperatures and maximize the original juice and flavor of ingredients; its high transparency makes the sauces produced have a translucent color and look more appetizing. If making sauce products such as bean paste at home, potato starch is generally recommended.

 

3. How to identify the authenticity of sweet potato starch

 

Potato starches have national standards, and some manufacturers also have enterprise standards. Individual households and small workshops mostly have no standards. When conditions permit, grades should be divided according to standards. But there are also many simple methods for judging sweet potato starch, which are very useful and have important reference value. Several methods are introduced below:

 

1. Visual inspection

 

If sweet potato starch is bright and white in color, it indicates fewer impurities and greater purity. The higher the whiteness, the better the quality. Conversely, more impurities mean poorer quality. When judging, take 5-10 grams of sweet potato starch, spread it on a clean glass plate, crush the starch with another piece of thick glass, and scrape the sample into a thin layer. Observe whether the color of the sweet potato starch is white, whether it has luster, and how many speckled inclusions there are. When observing, place the sample on a colorless, transparent, clean glass plate with white paper underneath, avoid direct light, and use reflected light. Colored impurities such as dust, plant leaf fragments, and black sand and stones can be clearly distinguished.

 

2. Finger rubbing and hand gripping

 

Use the senses of the fingers to detect the approximate moisture content of sweet potato starch. The method is to rub and pinch the sweet potato starch hard with the fingers until it can be pinched into a thin sheet, then shake the thin sheet from the fingers onto the table from a height of 20 cm above the tabletop: if it appears as scattered powder, it is dry, with a moisture content below 15%; if it appears as small fragments, the moisture content is 15%-20%; if the thin sheet basically does not scatter, the moisture content is above 20%. Grab half a handful of sweet potato starch and clench it tightly with your hand. If it scatters when you let go, the sweet potato starch is relatively dry. If it forms a lump in the hand and is difficult to scatter when you let go, it indicates that the sweet potato starch contains too much water.

 

3. Listening

 

Rub and pinch the sweet potato starch in the bag with your hands. If you hear a "crackling" sound, or directly rub and pinch the sweet potato starch hard with your fingers and it makes a "crackling" sound, it is pure sweet potato starch; if talcum powder, wheat flour, or corn flour is mixed into the sweet potato starch, no sound can be heard, or the sound is not loud.

 

4. Taste

 

Take a small amount of starch into your mouth and use the taste buds, teeth, and other senses in your mouth to determine whether the sweet potato starch has off-flavors and impurities. For example, a strong sour taste indicates that during processing by the sour liquor method, fermentation was excessive and the starch was not washed with clean water after settling (washing means removing the supernatant of the sour liquor, then adding clean water, stirring evenly, and settling again). Starch noodles made from such starch have slightly weaker chewiness; if the sweet potato starch has a sour musty smell, it indicates that the sweet potato starch was stored for a long time when humidity was high before drying and became moldy. Noodles made from this kind of sweet potato starch break easily; if there is a talcum powder taste, wheat flour taste, etc., it indicates that these substances have been mixed in; when chewed carefully with the teeth, if there is a gritty feeling, it indicates that the sweet potato starch contains a relatively large amount of sand. Sweet potato starch with no off-flavor and no grittiness when chewed carefully is high-quality sweet potato starch.

 

5. Heap the powder and observe the peak 

 

Use your hands to pile the sweet potato starch into a cone shape and observe the blunt roundness of the tip. Pure sweet potato starch has a low, gentle pile tip, while adulterated sweet potato starch has a high, steep pile tip.

 

6. Water sedimentation 

 

Take 50 grams of sweet potato starch, place it in a beaker or white bowl, add 150-200 milliliters of water, stir evenly, then stir in one direction for 1 minute, let stand for 5 minutes, slowly pour out the sweet potato starch milk, and pay attention to whether there is sand or mud at the bottom and how much there is. Then place the sweet potato starch milk in a colorless transparent glass cup or beaker to settle for 3 hours and check the sedimentation: if it settles quickly and the starch sinks neatly, with clear water on top and no fine sand at the bottom, it is high-quality sweet potato starch; if it settles slowly, the upper water is rather yellow, and there is a lot of sand, it is low-quality starch; if corn flour, rice flour, etc. are mixed in, it is not easy to sink in water, and the upper water is extremely cloudy. After adding water to dilute and stir the sweet potato starch, observe the impurities in the suspension whose specific gravity is less than that of water. If there are too many impurities, the impact on the quality of the starch noodles is relatively large.

 

7. Compare with standard samples 

 

Put starches of different quality grades determined through testing into colorless glass seed bottles or long colorless glass bottles respectively, label them separately, and note the sample grade, time, source, etc. When evaluating sweet potato starch from different sources and different processing batches, they can be compared with standard samples. This facilitates classifying and using starches of different quality grades, so as to ensure continuous stability in the quality of products made from further processing of sweet potato starch.