Edible oil market sees competition from major players: I-Mei launches first locally produced peanut oil

The first-instance verdict acquitting Ting Hsin has once again reignited public concern over the cooking oil safety scandal, and major food manufacturer I-Mei has also joined the cooking oil battle, procuring locally grown peanuts to make oil and entering the cooking oil market. The Agriculture and Food Agency stated that in recent years peanut prices have indeed been looking up because of the cooking oil scandal, but this year a "supply-demand balance" should be achievable; and if production increases in the future, it will have to rely on demand and use by food processing operators in order to stabilize peanut prices.

Peanut Prices Look Up, Major Manufacturers Rush into the Peanut Oil Market

In recent years cooking oil scandals have been unrelenting, driving domestic demand for the production of peanut oil and peanuts. Su Chao-teng, section chief of the Special Crops Section of the Agriculture and Food Agency's Grain and Feed Division, stated that over the past 3 years the peanut planting area has increased by 200 hectares, reaching more than 20,000 hectares this year; however, affected by Typhoons Soudelor and Dujuan, production fell by 5,000 metric tons, about 10%, but it can still supply 50,000 metric tons of peanuts in shells.

Su Chao-teng said that the peanut harvest period has now begun, and nearly half of the peanut farmers have completed the harvest, with farm-gate prices at about NT$40 to NT$45 per Taiwanese catty, better than prices in previous years.

"This has something to do with the cooking oil scandal," Su Chao-teng said. Well-known food manufacturers such as Fwusow and Taishan are also purchasing peanuts to make oil; and I-Mei Foods is also bullish on the business opportunity of domestically produced peanut oil, and recently entered the peanut oil market.